Red Bull motorsport advisor, Dr Helmut Marko could not help but feel proud when Max Verstappen won their home race. The Austrian has praised the general atmosphere at the Red Bull Ring courtesy the Dutch fans. He even reminisced the “fantastic” moment when they chanted for the Honda engineers in sheer delight.
Until the race at the Red Bull Ring, everything was going Mercedes‘ way, winning every race. at the time. However, Max Verstappen was the first driver to break that streak, though technically, it was Sebastian Vettel in Canada had it not been for the penalty. Behind the Red Bull were Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas respectively.
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The ‘Orange Army’, as they are dubbed, were out in full force, and impressed Marko with their support.
Speaking to Motorsports.com, Marko said, “The invasion of Dutch fans was incredible. It was peaceful and without any aggression. Just enthusiasm, very different from football.”
“For example, I was in front of the pit box with the people of Honda. When I pushed them forward, the audience chanted ‘Honda, Honda.’
“It was a fantastic moment.”
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Helmut Marko
Admittedly, the Red Bull driver did not have the best of starts, dropping to eighth position after a stalled start. However, he seemingly activated the comeback mode button and scythed his way back. Then he overtook Charles Leclerc with two laps remaining to win.
“Verstappen has had such a catch-up race before,” the Red Bull advisor added.
“In Austin 2017, when he was finally taken off the podium because of catching up with [Kimi] Raikkonen on the inside. And [Sebastian] Vettel also showed a great comeback in Brazil 2012 when he was tapped around by Bruno Senna and afterward worked through the field.”
“Then both Mercedes dropped out. Although we were faster at the time, it didn’t look so good [on our own strength.] This year we caught up with our rivals on the circuit.
“The most extraordinary thing is that the start failed. Max was seventh after the first lap. Normally it is impossible to make up for that on a circuit like the Red Bull Ring.”
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Max Verstappen
