Marko praises Verstappen's "will to win, all the time"

F1 News

6 July 2019 at 11:41

Helmut Marko has praised Austrian GP winner Max Verstappen following his teriffic win at the Red Bull Ring.

Starting second, the Dutchman suffered a nightmare start but fought back to take the win, passing Charles Leclerc in the dying laps.

Marko believes that Verstappen's pure hunger and desire for success sets him out ahead of other drivers.

According to Grandprix247.com, Marko said: “He has an absolute will to win. He wants to win, all the time. That was a bit of a problem in the beginning because he was always pushing, even in every practice session. Last year in Monaco, we had the downside of this approach in P3, when he crashed and lost the chance to win.

“He learned the hard way. He realised that he had a car that was capable of winning and through a stupid mistake everything was gone. He learned to be patient.”

However, Marko admitted that Verstappen is sometimes still tough to handle, adding: “Sometimes it’s difficult, but in the end, he listens. You have to put across an argument, and the argument has to be justifiable. But he’s also very stubborn. If he has an idea in his head, it’s difficult to move him around.

“That can be a strength, as long as it’s going in a positive direction. If you can present a good argument, he’s strong enough to agree: Yes I was wrong. He won’t say it straight away, but he will say it!”