Max Verstappen shares an incident where Helmut Marko was furious with him after a race

Max Verstappen has shared one very interesting anecdote where Red Bull's Helmut Marko was furious with him after a race. The driver has been a major part of the team's success in the last few years and has been a part of the team since 2016. He made an immediate impact by winning his very first race that season and has been a constant presence at the front of the grid since then.

It was in 2016, however, when a misunderstanding led to Max Verstappen coming into the pitlane earlier than expected. During the 2016 F1 US GP, Verstappen was told by his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to push. In what was conventional at the time, the driver felt that he was told to push so that he could pit on the very next lap. As it turned out, he was mistaken as he entered the pits with the crew not ready for him.

In a conversation with former Red Bull junior Antonio felix da Costa, Max Verstappen revealed that Helmut Marko was furious at him for this. As quoted by racingnews365, he said:

"During the race, I was in P5 I think, but I was getting closer and closer to the guys in front of me. My engineer told me to push. Normally when he says that, it means I have to make a pit stop soon. At the end of that lap I drove into the pit lane and immediately I realized 'oh my God, he never told me to come in for a pit stop, what have I done?'"

He added:

"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?

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Max Verstappen apologized to Helmut Marko afterward

Max Verstappen said that he apologized to Marko afterward and owned up to his mistake. Talking about the culture of the team, Verstappen said that the chief advisor appreciates it when someone admits that a mistake was made.

He said:

"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."

Verstappen ended up not finishing the race as Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg.