Crimson Bull’s failure to warn Max Verstappen that Lando Norris confronted a monitor limits investigation may need prevented their late 2024 System 1 Austrian Grand Prix crash, reckons Helmut Marko.
Verstappen and Norris collided within the closing levels of Sunday’s race on the Crimson Bull Ring, after the McLaren driver had gone off the monitor 3 times and earned a monitor limits black-white-warning flag, earlier than then going off of their second skirmish on the monitor’s Flip 3.
This could later earn Norris a five-second time penalty, as is computerized in F1’s guidelines as soon as a monitor limits warning has been issued, however earlier than that got here by way of the pair had collided at Flip 3 – this time when the McLaren driver attacked on the surface line and Verstappen moved throughout on him.
Talking to Crimson Bull’s personal TV channel, ServusTV post-race, Marko mentioned: “The victory was misplaced by a number of components.
“The truth that the [second Verstappen] pitstop went mistaken, Lando slipped into the DRS window consequently, and in addition our assumption that the arduous tyres can be the higher selection in sizzling climate, which was not the case.
“The temperatures have been decrease, that means that Lando had recent tyres within the final stint and we had used ones, which was additionally an element.
“However I might say that each drove unnecessarily arduous. We may maybe be blamed for this: we knew that an investigation with monitor limits was underway towards Lando.
Max Verstappen, Crimson Bull Racing
Picture by: Mark Sutton
“However we did not know whether or not and the way he can be punished. So, with hindsight, you possibly can have mentioned: ‘OK, let him go’.
“However let’s look on the intense facet, we have prolonged our championship lead, each within the constructors’ championship and within the drivers’ championship.”
Marko, Crimson Bull’s motorsport advisor, additionally reckoned Verstappen locking up and practically going off on his out-lap after his second cease was one other issue that “all this collectively made it potential” and allowed Norris to get a victory shot that had lengthy regarded unlikely.
Verstappen had managed the race to that time, along with his tempo on the medium tyres within the first stint significantly better than Norris’s, earlier than the McLaren began to shut in as their second stint on hards wore on.
Marko reckoned their late battle was “a extremely nice battle at occasions” till “it by some means degenerated into who was pushing who extra, who was violating extra monitor limits, as an alternative of concentrating on ending pretty”.