Red Bull’s advisor Helmut Marko has revealed that he would rather be pleased to see Max Verstappen lift his second World Championship in Japan than at the upcoming Singapore Grand Prix.
Verstappen currently leads the Drivers’ championship standings by 116 points and has a chance to clinch the title at the Marina Bay Circuit.
The Dutchman would need to outscore closest rival Charles Leclerc by 22 points and claim 13 more points than Sergio Perez.
Nevertheless, Helmut Marko believes that the Dutchman’s victory could very well come one week later at the Japanese Grand Prix.
“From a marketing point of view, winning the title would be better in Japan, because of our engine partner Honda,” Marko told Austrian broadcaster ORF.
“But in general we can assume that Max will be World Champion. It’s just a question of when.”
The 79-year-old further explained why he has been so proud of the Red Bull team following their accomplishments throughout the campaign.
Ferrari had initially looked to hold the edge in the early stages of the 2022 campaign, but it was Red Bull who seemed to get stronger as the campaign progressed, something that Marko is proud of.
“We were 46 points behind after three races, that was predominantly due to the car being overweight,” the Austrian said.
“The first failure was caused by a weight-saving measure. The second failure was due to technical reasons. Due to the excess weight, the car was initially pushing over the front axle.”
“We successively introduced a weight reduction – something like two, three kilos per race. On top of that came a brisk development programme.
“We were mainly concerned with the front end of the car when we made the improvements. Max needs a car that really bites at the front, i.e. turns in very spontaneously. What then happens with the rear doesn’t interest Max so much.
“Our car got better and better, Ferrari on the other hand had technical defects, plus driving errors, and so the gap turned into a comfortable lead for us over time.”
