“We aren’t treated the same as Mercedes”: Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko accuses FIA of favoring the Silver Arrows after a series of controversial verdicts at the Saudi Arabian GP

Helmut Marko insists that FIA deals with Red Bull a lot differently than Mercedes after the Saudi Arabian GP. 

The inaugural race in Jeddah was full of incidents between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The title rivals were the only two drivers in contention for the win and stayed on each other’s tails throughout the race.

The tensions were understandably high in both the Mercedes and Red Bull garages. On lap 37, Verstappen was asked to give 1st place back to the Mercedes driver for ‘illegally overtaking him’ before.

The 24-year-old race driver appeared to slow dowonin the track and caught Lewis off guard. As a result, the Briton ran into the back of the Red Bull, taking damage to his front wing.

A standout moment in the 2021 championship 👀#SaudiArabianGP 🇸🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/6oFiWo0JU8

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 6, 2021

The Red Bull driver was given a five-second penalty for his earlier overtake on Hamilton. Soon after the race ended, he was given another 10-second penalty for the collision with his rival.

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko feels that the decisions were very one-sided.

Also read: Max Verstappen fumes F1 is more about penalties than racing after he withdraws his lead to Lewis Hamilton over FIA’s instructions

The Red Bull chief explains why he feels the decisions favored Mercedes

After the race, Marko said that while the racing was ‘extraordinary’, Red Bull was not happy with the steward’s findings and wouldn’t accept it.

“Our engineers are preparing that we can prove Max was constant with his braking. He didn’t brake test like Hamilton said.” Marko said.

“Then he crashed into our car, he unfortunately put two cuts in the rear tyre. That was so severe that we couldn’t attack anymore. We had to take speed out.”

Mixed emotions from Max Verstappen after F1 fans vote him Driver Of The Day in Jeddah 🎧🗳#SaudiArabianGP 🇸🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/7IBOlb0jjK

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 6, 2021

“That was the one thing. The next thing was at the second start, Hamilton was more than 10 car lengths behind.  Vettel got penalized in Budapest when he did it. But with this maneuver he was preparing his tyre better for the start.” the Austrian added.

“Then he pushed Max off, no reaction. So we feel we are not treated the same.”

Also read: Red Bull chief rejects Saudi Arabian GP verdict

Max Verstappen should not cool down, says Marko

After the race, Hamilton criticized the way Verstappen was behaving on track. He called his driving dangerous and suggested he was ‘over the limit’. On the other hand, Marko said that his driver should not approach any race more differently than he is right now.

“I don’t think there is any reason why he should cool down,” Marko said. “It’s the match between Mercedes and Red Bull and the match between Max and Lewis. And just remember what happened in Silverstone, what’s happened in Budapest. Don’t forget that.” he concluded.

Also read: Sergio Perez rues Red Bull missing out on Constructors’ Championship to Mercedes after DNF collision with Charles Leclerc at Jeddah