Max Verstappen says he’s staying out of the escalating off-track battle between Red Bull and McLaren.
As the triple world champion battles on track with his friend Lando Norris, their bosses are at war on the sidelines. Red Bull got McLaren’s ’mini DRS’ rear wing banned after Baku, and McLaren returned fire with the T-tray affair in Austin.
The FIA has drawn a line under the latter scandal, and Red Bull’s Dr Helmut Marko insists team mechanics could not possibly make illegal setup adjustments in parc ferme because of all the cameras and scrutiny.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown countered: “I would like to see the guys at Red Bull sign an affidavit under oath that they never used this system,” he said, referring to the adjustable ride-height system that now must be sealed by FIA inspectors in parc ferme.
FIA single seater boss Nikolas Tombazis said the governing body will not be looking back on historical camera footage, even though he agrees it is “impossible to rule out with certainty” that illegal tweaks may have been made.
Dutch racing personality Tom Coronel, meanwhile, thinks losing the ’mini DRS’ has clearly cost McLaren on the stop-watch.
“You can now see a very clear difference with that rear wing. You see on the images that those parts of the wing no longer go up. Losing that little trick has cost them,” he told Viaplay.
The McLaren-Red Bull bickering even veered into petty ground in Austin, with Brown accusing Marko of setting back F1’s mental health awareness gains with his comments about Norris’ weaknesses.
“That was never the point at all,” Marko, 81, hit back. “What Zak made of it, I do not think is entirely fair. And it’s a shame, because I have always had a good relationship with Lando.
“This was purely a statement referring to his experience and maturity. In two years he will be mentally a lot stronger. And we all know that Max also made mistakes in his first years in Formula 1.
“Lando is a fantastic driver,” Marko added, “but the pressure also plays a role. And with more routine and success you will automatically deal with that better.”
Tellingly, although McLaren and Red Bull ended the US GP weekend by bickering about Norris’ penalty, the wheel-to-wheel contenders themselves are trying to stay out of the hostilities.
“I think I did the correct thing,” said Norris, “but I don’t make the rules. Max drove well, it was a fun race between us, a good battle. He defended well, he did everything he had to do.”
As for Verstappen, he thinks McLaren CEO Brown and Red Bull boss Christian Horner in particular are letting their personal problems intervene in the inter-team hostilities.
“It’s not my problem and it doesn’t interest me at all,” said the triple world champion. “And I don’t think it’s necessarily McLaren that’s making all this noise, it’s more Zak’s work.
“I think he doesn’t like Christian and Christian doesn’t like Zak. But the fact that they don’t have warm feelings for each other is not my problem. I still have a great relationship with Zak,” Verstappen added.
“It’s not like we call each other and talk, but I just saw him and we’re fine. So I’ll read and listen to all this news, then turn off the screen and go and watch MotoGP.”
