Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes Max Verstappen would take pole position in either an AlphaTauri or Haas Formula 1 car in mixed conditions.
The Dutchman has won 10 of the 12 rounds to take place this season – including the last eight in a row – to stand on the brink of winning a third straight Championship.
Marko, who has overseen Verstappen’s progression from raw protege to a multiple-time F1 title winner, asserts that the reigning World Champion would be a cut above the rest of the competition in any machinery.
“Max would be a class of its own in every car,” Marko told Motorsport-Total.com.
“The Max of 2020 cannot be compared with the Max of 2023 – except for the same name. He has gained tremendous sovereignty.
“For me, the champion of race reading was always [Lewis] Hamilton, as he divided his tyres. And Max is now also the same. If not even better, because it is better at basic speed.
“An incredible maturation process took place,” he added.
Despite winning on his Red Bull debut in 2016, it took Verstappen until midway through the 2019 season to register his first pole position in F1.
However, he has since added a further 26, with Verstappen particularly excelling when the weather conditions are evolving, including last time out at the Belgian Grand Prix when the 25-year-old eclipsed the field on a drying track to take pole by a huge 0.8s.
Marko believes Verstappen’s innate feel for the car in changeable conditions stands him out amongst the rest to the point he could even clock the fastest time with AlphaTauri’s AT04 or Haas’ VF-23 car at his disposal.
“If there are such conditions, he puts an AlphaTauri or Haas, who is a qualifying car, on pole,” the Austrian declared.
The long-serving Red Bull employee, however, accepts that Verstappen would lose motivation if he was faced with the prospect of not fighting for regular race wins.
Verstappen is tied to Red Bull until the end of 2028 but he has repeatedly expressed that he could choose to depart F1 once that contract reaches its expiry point.
“Max is different,” Marko explained. “He will come one day and say: ‘Thank you, that’s it.'”
Verstappen’s eight straight victories have helped Red Bull to set a new record for the most consecutive wins achieved by a team in F1 history, with the two-time champion only one shy of equalling Sebastian Vettel’s benchmark tally of nine successive victories.
The season will resume at the end of this month with Verstappen’s home race at Zandvoort, where he has won on F1’s two previous visits since its return to the calendar in 2021.
I would love to see that proved!
Love to see that proven!
Total bollox 😁