Marko warns: 'Then all Verstappen qualities come out'

Marko pokes fun at Mercedes

The Mercedes drivers ended the first free practice session with the two fastest lap times, something Marko attributed to a combination of timing and revving up the engines. In the second session, his suspicions seemed to be confirmed, as in it Lewis Hamilton and George Russell came no further than seventh and 15th respectively.

Marko therefore could not resist giving a pinprick to Toto Wolff's team. "It is amazing that Mercedes is upset. For years they had such superiority with the engine and had a much bigger lead than we have now. When you deliver such a flop of a car two years in a row, you have to focus on that," he is quoted by Motorsport-Magazin.com.

Verstappen closed the first free practice session in fourth place, but the final result may have given a distorted picture. The Dutchman set the tone during VT1 and repeated it in FP2. Verstappen is happy with the set-up, which Marko says is not a good sign for the competition. "Max is happy with the set-up. He feels comfortable and then all Verstappen's qualities come out," he continued.

For Perez, however, this is not the case at the moment. " There is still some room for improvement here and there," observes the 80-year-old Austrian. Realistically, however, he sees the Mexican driver "three to four tenths" behind Verstappen.