Formula 1 | Red Bull, Marko remembers the Baku crash: "Verstappen could have avoided the accident"

In a chat given to the microphones of motorsport.com, Helmut Marko analyzed the contact between Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, underlining how the Dutchman could have avoided that sensational accident in turn 1 which caused end to his race and that of the new Renault driver.

According to Dietrich Mateschitz's right-hand man, in fact, Ricciardo's race pace was faster, especially at the end of the stint on used tyres, an aspect which should have pushed the Dutch talent to avoid close collisions with his teammate.

Here are the words of Helmut Marko: “Verstappen had to avoid the accident in Baku, as Ricciardo was too fast. Max lost the braking point at the first corner and for this reason he should have taken the side route of the track, avoiding contact. Unfortunately this didn't happen and we had an accident between our two cars."

The Austrian subsequently revealed how the pit wall had not envisaged such a scenario: “Verstappen told us that his tires were finished and in fact his lap time had just dropped by more than three tenths. At that point we gave the OK to stop, but suddenly he marked two green sectors, with tires that in theory had reached the end of their life. We didn't expect a duel."