Red Bull point finger at Hamilton, Bottas for Verstappen collisions

Matthew Scott
Thursday 31 October 2019 16:30

Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko said Max Verstappen could not be faulted for the collisions he was involved in with both Mercedes drivers at the Mexican Grand Prix.

Verstappen collided with Lewis Hamilton on the first lap at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, dropping both drivers down the grid.

While Hamilton recovered to win, Verstappen's race went from bad to worse as he tried to make his way through the field, attempting a bold overtake on Valtteri Bottas in the stadium section which left him with a puncture.

Hamilton said post-race that Verstappen's style makes collisions "more likely" but Marko says neither incident in Mexico could be put at his driver's door.

"That was a bit unfortunate," Marko told Auto Motor und Sport of Max's race start.

"Hamilton came out a little way and then turned in against Max. Then Max flies into the grass. Unfortunately, it was still a bit wet. That's how he lost so much time.

"Bottas could have been a bit more careful. It looked like he did not see Max.

"And then he punctures the tyre for us. The manoeuvre by Max was actually very good. But the result was unfortunately very bad."

Red Bull appeared to gain pace in Mexico after struggling in races they had expected to do well at in Japan in Singapore, but Marko explains that the issue has not been with the RB15.

"Our car was just as strong in Japan. Unfortunately we failed in qualifying," he said.

"We've always had a fast car except for Singapore and Russia. In Singapore, we spoiled the setup, in Russia, the new gas was not available. There was a lack of power.

"But I expect that we can go for the victories on the next tracks."