Max Verstappen once admitted making an ’embarrassing’ Red Bull mistake that left Helmut Marko fuming

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Max Verstappen knows that he needs to be perfect between now and the end of the current Formula 1 season if he wants to become a world champion for the fifth consecutive time.

The Dutchman is in the midst of an unlikely comeback, despite being more than 100 points behind drivers’ championship leader Oscar Piastri at one stage. Red Bull have seized the car development initiative, and it has paid off handsomely.

While their rivals’ attention has fully turned to the 2026 F1 regulations, they have kept pushing with this year’s car, in a bid to give Verstappen a fighting chance of matching Michael Schumacher’s record for the most consecutive titles in history.

Red Bull have got their swagger back, and it’s a positive trend for them heading into the future. If they want to keep hold of their superstar driver, they need to deliver as they have recently. Verstappen was dejected at Red Bull before the summer break, but is now back on track, and it’s a positive thing for everyone.

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Max Verstappen once accidentally made an ’embarrassing’ pit stop error which angered Helmut Marko

Verstappen sees a chance to win the championship and is arguably driving at his highest level in a few years right now. There’s an argument to suggest that with the pressure off him, he’s able to deliver his very best work.

A 40-point gap with five races to go (two of which are sprints) is something which can be turned around. But, he needs to be perfect. He cannot afford any silly errors, much like the ones which have left his bosses angry in the past.

Back in 2016, at the United States Grand Prix, Verstappen accidentally made a pit stop without telling his Red Bull crew, which ended up leaving Helmut Marko ‘quite angry’ afterwards.

“My engineer told me to push. Normally, when he says that, it means I have to make a pit stop soon,” he told RacingNews365.” At the end of that lap, I drove into the pit lane and immediately I realised ‘oh my God, he never told me to come in for a pit stop, what have I done?’

“So yeah, I yelled over the radio that I was making a pit stop, and suddenly, you could see all the mechanics running around. That was an embarrassing moment.

“Helmut Marko was, of course, quite angry with me after the race. But yes, what can you say? I just said that I made a mistake and that I had screwed up, that’s all you can do. We make mistakes, we are not robots. Marko appreciates it when you admit your mistakes.”

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How did Max Verstappen fare at the 2016 United States Grand Prix after his shock pit stop?

Although Verstappen’s error could have been costly, it wasn’t proven to be, as his car only made it a few more laps before retiring with a gearbox issue.

It was his second retirement of the season for Red Bull, but it wasn’t all doom and gloom for too long. In each of the last three races in 2016, he finished higher than fourth.

He did have to wait quite a bit longer to taste victory again, doing so at the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix, but he had already suffered quite a troublesome campaign to that point.

Multiple repeats of Verstappen’s United States Grand Prix win are required if he wants to take home top honours at the end of this year. As he has shown before, though, anything can happen.