When was the first time Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko saw Max Verstappen in tears?

Max Verstappen's crash in FP3 at the 2018 F1 Monaco GP was the first time the Red Bull driver was brought to tears in front of Helmut Marko. Red Bull had a strong car that weekend. While Verstappen had binned the car, his teammate Daniel Ricciardo would go on to take pole position and win the race.

Talking about Max Verstappen's evolution over the years to Formule1.nl, Helmut Marko specifically talked about this moment. He said:

“In Monte-Carlo he(Max) had his first crash, he was a bit provoked there by Grosjean. If we stay with Monte-Carlo: he crashed there twice more later. Same corner, same place, while twice we had a car with which we could win.

"Then I saw Max in tears for the first time. I was also disappointed. If you have such a good car, don't park it in the crash barrier. Fortunately, he learned from it and finally succeeded last year to win the title."

Helmut Marko talked about how Red Bull chose to test Max Verstappen straight away by giving him a practice session in Suzuka of all places. He said:

“We deliberately chose to throw Max in the deep end. Suzuka was designed by a Dutchman, so a circuit for guys, huh. That was a nice challenge for Max. But I believed that with him we had found someone who would become the new normal.

"And in Suzuka we got the confirmation of what I already knew: Max did nothing wrong in that training, was competitive from the first moment he got into a Formula 1 car."

When Max Verstappen debuted in F1 he was only 16 years of age. Marko talked about the kind of dynamics Red Bull had to deal with early on as Jos, Max's father, had a lot of influence on him. Marko said:

"He was still a child and you still had the dominance of Jos at the time. But that actually developed in parallel: the more independent Max became, the more Jos withdrew.

"In the beginning, this was not always an easy process. Max had two technical briefings: first with the team and then with Jos… It is clear that something like this cannot continue to go well.”

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Max Verstappen hasn't changed despite the influx of money

One of the key things Helmut Marko touched on was how Max Verstappen is still the same person despite becoming one of the highest-paid athletes in the Netherlands. The Red Bull driver has not changed as a person and only calmed down after his first world title.

Marko said:

“He developed his own opinion relatively quickly and expressed himself very clearly in interviews. It's a Verstappen, isn't it. If he doesn't like something, he will say so. That didn't always help us, like in Mexico with the stewards. But so are we.

"Max is now 24 and one of the highest earning athletes in the Netherlands, but that hasn't changed him one bit. He lives his own life and has calmed down after his first world title.”

Max Verstappen already has one title in the bag and with a 80-point lead this season, a second almost looks like a formality.