Red Bull chief Marko in cutting remark about 'not serious' F1 rivals Mercedes

07 September 2023 , 19:07

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Helmut Marko put Mercedes in their place after Toto Wolff dismissed Max Verstappen's latest F1 record (Image: Hasan Bratic/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images)

Helmut Marko hit back at Toto Wolff over his dismissive comments about Max Verstappen with a brutal reminder that his Mercedes team is "not a serious competitor" for Red Bull.

Verstappen's victory at the Italian Grand Prix was his 10th in a row – a new Formula 1 record. But, after the race, Wolff caused a stir by talking down the achievement.

"I don't know if he cares about the records. It is not something that would be important for me," he said. "Those numbers, it is for Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway."

Whether or not it was Wolff's intention to provoke, his fellow Austrian Marko made it clear he was not going to rise to the bait. "That's the difference [between Mercedes and us]," the Red Bull stalwart said.

"We look at our team to get the best performance from our own team, and we don't worry about Mercedes as long as they are not a serious competitor for us. So we just look after our own thing, we do the best we can and we don't make up all those kind of stories like they do."

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Instead, Marko preferred to focus on Verstappen's achievement, adding: "For Max, this winning streak means a lot. For me personally, getting the 100th win as a team was even more special than this, but it's fantastic for Max. I think it was very important for him to break that record. Now he's got it, so I think he's a bit more relaxed for the next races."

Regarding Wolff's words, several Sky Sports F1 pundits denounced the Mercedes chief for his disrespect. Damon Hill led the criticism, saying: "It sounded a bit churlish and not very gracious. It's unlike Toto because he's usually very sporting.

"But he is hurting a bit now. They know what it is like to be dominant and they didn't even get on the podium in Monza. They seem to be a bit stymied and can't seem to work out what to do. But who can? It seems like everywhere we go, Red Bull has got the upper hand."

Martin Brundle said : "Sport can and should be tribal, but you must surely also appreciate a level of excellence in others. So I was a little surprised and disappointed that Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff played down this achievement over the weekend because they rightly received their due reverence and appreciation during their years of total domination from 2014 to 2020."

And Nico Rosberg added : "I think Toto was just a bit down there and that made his answer a bit darker and not quite as gracious. Not quite as gracious as perhaps he would normally be because I think the right answer would have been, 'Hats off and respect to Red Bull for their achievements'."

Daniel Moxon