Marko: "Max has learned from Monaco errors"

Helmut Marko says Max Verstappen has learned a valuable lesson after his 'hero to zero' outing in Monaco last month. Fresh from his sensational victory on debut for Red Bull in Barcelona, the 18-year-old hit rock bottom two weeks later in Monaco by crashing not only in qualifying but also during the race.

But Red Bull official Dr Marko - the controversial architect of Verstappen's mid-season promotion to Red Bull - said the criticism aimed at the Dutchman after Monaco was "amazing". "It's amazing how a driver can be a hero one Sunday and 15 days later he is criticised hard for some mistakes," he told Brazil's Globo.

Nonetheless, Marko said he sat down with Verstappen to talk about his calamitous Monaco weekend. "My concern was to show him the complete uselessness of trying to be as fast as he was in the race," said the Austrian.

"He was doing an extraordinary job, having done several overtakes, reaching fifth place and as the leaders were too far away, on a track like Monaco, there was nothing left to do. It made no sense to take those risks for nothing. I talked a lot with him and Max seems to have heard us. I see it that the error was an important part of his learning," Marko added. (GMM)