After the first three races of the season, the fans have collectively declared Max Verstappen as the winner. The fans have come to this general understanding all due to the Dutchman’s dominant displays in the first two races. However, no one in the sport is immortal and Verstappen showcased that in Australia. Verstappen almost lost his lead as he cut some grass with his Red Bull during the race. This rare mistake from Verstappen could’ve cost him the lead and the race. However, the Red Bull top honchos ignored this rare occurrence on account of a similar incident from the past.

The Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko discussed the incident in Australia on Servus TV as quoted by F1 Maximaal. The Austrian joked about an incident from the 2022 Hungarian GP. To jog your memory, Verstappen started the race from P7 in Hungary and went on to win the race. However, during his change to the front, Verstappen slid on the track and did a full 360.

The win, despite the slip in Hungary, has earned Verstappen a lot of faith from his superiors. Dr. Marko’s statement is a testament to that.

“It was still a bit shaky, yes, because our first two standing starts were far from optimal. On the third and decisive time, thank God, it worked out. When we were at the front, it was sovereign. Max of course made a small trip through the grass, but we are used to that from him after Hungary,” jokes the adviser. (Translated by Google)

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Such dominant displays have not only earned Verstappen praise from his team but also from his rivals. Most entities invested in the sport are convinced Verstappen is winning his third championship title in 2023.

However, the Red Bull men aren’t getting complacent, especially after just three races.

Despite the dominant displays from Max Verstappen, Marko believes the competition is still strong and getting stronger

Dr. Marko addressed questions about Red Bull’s dominance. The Austrian believes despite a blistering start to the season, there is always a possibility of the competition catching up to Red Bull. In fact, he pointed out how one hiccup can ruin an entire race weekend.

“You can see how close it all is. Everyone says that we have such a big head start and that is when everything goes smoothly. But now we have seen that things can immediately be different if small things are not right. We have also seen in this race that our pursuers Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Mercedes are not sitting still, they have already made progress,” said Marko.

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Mercedes is doing everything to catch up to RBR. Whether they will be able to do that after the Austrian team brings upgrades is a separate question altogether. Regardless, RBR is not getting complacent and putting its best foot forward in every race weekend.