Horner reveals WAGER with Marko on Verstappen success

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has revealed that Max Verstappen won him €500, after a bet with Helmut Marko during qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

A supreme Verstappen claimed his 12th pole position of the season at the Yas Marina Circuit, beating Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who himself now has five consecutive front row starts.

After a weekend in which the Dutchman appeared to be slightly off the pace, he and his team managed to string together a great qualifying session to put themselves in position to claim victory once more in the season-ending race.

The aforementioned poor start to the weekend, in which Verstappen was asking for changes to his car even at the very end of the final practice session, seems to have tempted Red Bull advisor Marko into trying to get a bit of extra cash for the winter.

Marko loses Horner battle

Despite this, Horner appears to have got the better of the 80-year-old, as revealed over Verstappen's team radio after qualifying.

“Yeah well done mate, you’ve just won me 500 euros off Helmut, which is like getting blood out of a stone so fantastic job,” he said.

Verstappen replied “Ha! Helmut lost a bet? What world are we living in?”, before Horner revealed what had been wagered.

“Exactly. The bet was for you to be on the front row mate,” he admitted.

They might still be in Vegas mood, after Horner celebrated his 50th birthday in style during the Las Vegas GP last weekend.

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