Red Bull chief Helmut Marko thinks that the skirmish between Lewis Hamilton-Max Verstappen during FP2 on Friday was unnecessary.
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton appeared in an intense episode at Austin on Friday. When turning on the apex, there were seen racing too early in the weekend, and Hamilton also ended up pushing the Dutchman off the track.
This scuffle infuriated Verstappen, calling Hamilton a “stupid idiot” in the process. Meanwhile, Red Bull chief Helmut Marko thinks it was an unnecessary thing to do.
“We’ve had that more often during the season. That those two won’t have dinner together more often, we know that anyway, but I think it’s unnecessary,” said Marko to Sky Germany.
Though after the FP2, neither of the two drivers reacted to the incident. Except Verstappen saying he didn’t understand what Hamilton wanted to achieve by pulling moves on him.
“I don’t know, we are all lining up to go for our laps so I don’t really understand what happened there,” he said. However, later a few fans argued that Verstappen moved ahead of Hamilton in the queue. So Hamilton had a prerogative to reclaim his position in the aforementioned lineup.
Also read: Helmut Marko believes that Max Verstappen is nearing to championship triumph
Red Bull levels the field
FP1 was dominated by Mercedes, with Valtteri Bottas recording the fastest time on the clock. But Sergio Perez’s thrilling performance in the following practice session made Marko believe the difference between the two teams has shrunk.
“That gap of almost a second in the first practice, that has clearly shrunk,” he said. “It’s going to be a tough race this weekend, but it’s not as clear on the side of Mercedes as we thought before.”
Also read: Red Bull boss Christian Horner not ruling out deliberate engine change by Mercedes
