Helmut Marko shares what Max Verstappen struggled with that’s ‘normally his strength’ at British GP

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Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko is a notoriously difficult man to impress.

His job is to oversee the junior driver set-up and as Formula 3 driver Kacper Sztuka will tell you, he doesn’t hang around if he thinks someone is underperforming.

Helmut Marko dropped the Polish driver from the Red Bull academy just seven months after the team signed him despite winning the Italian F4 Championship last season.

If that’s how he views the youngsters coming through the ranks at Red Bull, the pressure is even greater on the four drivers currently racing in Formula 1 for the team.

Marko was speaking to Sky Sports Deutschland after the British Grand Prix which was another mixed event for the reigning Constructors’ champions.

The less said about Sergio Perez’s weekend the better, with Perez under increasing pressure to improve or risk losing his seat during the summer break.

Yuki Tsunoda scored Visa Cash App RB’s only point by finishing 10^th with Daniel Ricciardo slightly behind his teammate once again.

However, Marko did have one criticism of Max Verstappen despite the Dutchman scoring an unlikely podium at Silverstone.

It was another race that demonstrated how close the top three teams are now in terms of performance, with Verstappen and Red Bull having to nail their strategy when others around him faltered.

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Helmut Marko shares Max Verstappen criticism at the British Grand Prix

Asked about Verstappen’s performance, Marko said: “We lost the race in the first stint, where we had incredibly strong graining.

“Max [Verstappen] lost almost the most on a wet track and that is normally his strength. It was simply the tyres that didn’t work for us.

“Our pit stop and strategy were great, the call came at the right time. Everything worked out, including the hard tyre at the back. We ran out of laps.”

Asked how much longer Verstappen needed at the end of the Grand Prix to catch Lewis Hamilton, Marko added: “According to our calculations, two laps.”

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Max Verstappen is still in control of the Drivers’ Championship after the British Grand Prix

Red Bull may be beginning to get slightly worried about the Constructors’ Championship.

Although Ferrari had a worse weekend at Silverstone than they did, Mercedes and McLaren continued to make ground on them.

Sergio Perez once again struggled and has scored fewer points than Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg since the Miami Grand Prix.

While Marko was surprised with how Verstappen drove in the wet, it was more of a reflection of the lack of performance in the car than anything else, with Verstappen commenting on how fast Carlos Sainz was during that stint in the cooldown room.

That puts all the pressure on Verstappen who continues to slowly increase his lead in the Drivers’ Championship.

The one benefit of the grid converging for Red Bull is that Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes keep taking points off one another.

If any of those teams could put together a sustained challenge on Red Bull, then they would begin to really worry about Perez not contributing to the cause anymore.

While that won’t necessarily worry Verstappen as he looks set to secure a fourth straight title, the team may start to worry that they’re going to miss out on the prize money connected to where a manufacturer finishes in the team standings.

It means that the next two races are likely to be key to whether Perez has a future alongside Verstappen at Red Bull.

The talk is that Perez could be replaced by Liam Lawson, especially as Perez is currently underperforming two performance clauses in his contract.