Max Verstappen hits back at Helmut Marko's Red Bull claim

Reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen has hit back in disagreement against a bold claim from Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko.

The Dutchman has a lot of ground to make up if he wishes to match Michael Schumacher's record of five consecutive drivers' title victories this season, and despite a sprint race win in Spa, his title chances have continued to slip further away.

Prior to the race weekend in Belgium, Marko claimed that Verstappen's 69 point gap to championship leader Oscar Piastri was 'not impossible' to make up at the time.

But speaking to media including GPFans last weekend, Verstappen clearly disagreed with the Austrian's optimism, saying: "Helmut is not in the car,"

"I understand that you have to be positive about it, but I am very realistic about what I feel in the car. When I look at certain onboards of other cars, I actually know enough," he declared.

Red Bull at odds over Verstappen title charge

Though the Dutchman may have triumphed over drivers' standings leader Piastri and his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris in Saturday's sprint, he admitted that his RB21 was no match for the papaya machinery this season.

"Unfortunately, McLaren has obviously found something in terms of tyre degradation. You can see that much more strongly in the rain.

"Every time we have raced in the rain this year, we basically had no chance. Tomorrow will be no different," the 27-year-old stated ahead of Sunday's main event.

The rain-soaked affair in Spa was delayed as a result of the weather to Verstappen's dismay, but after only managing to secure a P4 finish, his gap to Piastri has now extended to 81 points, though Marko will surely continue to spread the message of hope whilst the title is still mathematically possible for his star driver.

This weekend, F1 heads to the Hungaroring for the 14th and final round of the season before the annual summer shutdown commences, and with wet weather potentially on the cards again, the result in Budapest could prove fatal to Verstappen's title battle that he appears to have already ruled himself out of.

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