Lewis Hamilton moment speaks volumes about Max Verstappen as Helmut Marko speaks

Helmut Marko has given an insight into just how competitive Max Verstappen is after the Dutchman found out Lewis Hamilton had the opportunity to go for the fastest lap in Spa. Verstappen has been in cruise control this season, winning 10 of the 12 races so far.

He eased to victory once again at the Belgian Grand Prix, finishing more than 20 seconds ahead of Sergio Perez in second. Ever the perfectionist, Verstappen wanted to maximise the points available to him by clinching the fastest lap at the end as well.

He wasn’t able to in the end following a heated debate with his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. Despite Verstappen’s outburst on the final few laps, Marko feels the Dutchman has improved his temperament on track.

And the Red Bull advisor has detailed how calm Verstappen really is in the cockpit – to the point where he’s even able to watch Hamilton on the ‘television screens’. “He’s learned to read the races better,” Marko told Motorsport-Magazin.

“He also looks at the television screens, and that is why he worried about the fastest lap [in Spa], because he saw that Lewis Hamilton could make a free pit stop, with a gap of 25 seconds behind him.” Verstappen was able to build up enough of a margin for a pit stop ahead of Sergio Perez, but Lambiase intervened to keep the Dutchman on the track.

But it’s Verstappen’s ability to multi-task while racing on the edge which impresses Marko the most. Marko added: “He sees all this and it shows how much overcapacity he has.

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“He can also talk on the on-board radio during the races even in the fast corners.” Verstappen did receive some criticism for his comments to Lambiase, but the two-time world champion brushed off the critics.

“That’s how we operate,” Verstappen told Sky Sports F1. “I think we know each other very well from all the years we have been working together.

“The car has been performing really well. Of course they want to keep it under control, but I’m the one in the car feeling how the tyres are behaving. They have the numbers but it’s still also a feeling thing. As long as they tell me from their side what they’re seeing then I can make my mind up of how to do it in terms of how to push it out.”

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