In an interview with Britain’s Sky Sports, Marko said Verstappen somewhat lost interest in F1 when he did not have a competitive car earlier this year. “He was more interested in racing GT cars,” Marko said. “To keep him happy I talked to him a lot about the Nürburgring and things like that.”
According to Marko, Verstappen is now extra motivated by the renewed title fight. “I would say that that extra motivation adds up to two tenths of a second. He is enjoying himself again, we just see him smiling.”
Verstappen was asked Thursday at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez about Marko’s statements. “I don’t agree with him,” Verstappen said firmly during a press moment at Red Bull’s motorhome.
“Of course it’s more fun when I have a competitive car than when I know I have no chance. But when I’m in the car I always give everything. In that respect it doesn’t matter whether I’m fighting for first, fourth or ninth place.”
According to Verstappen, it had been agreed much beforehand that he would be allowed to do other things besides Formula 1, such as his trip to the Nürburgring-Nordschleife. “It’s not like this just suddenly came on the radar,” the four-time world champion said.
“It was planned a long time in advance, it has to be. Because I also need time to prepare. It was the first time I did something different outside of F1 in real life. But I’ve been doing it online for much longer, even during F1 weekends,” Verstappen referred to his sim races. “It has nothing to do with how professional I approach a Grand Prix.”
Verstappen made up as many as 64 points over World Cup leader Oscar Piastri in the last four Grands Prix. At the summer break, he still seemed hopeless for his fifth consecutive world title, but with five Grands Prix to go, he is still forty points behind.
As a result, Verstappen seems to be back in the title race. “It doesn’t change much for my feeling whether I am the hunter like now or was the hunted in previous years. I have won championships very late and won championships very early.”
“But this is a very different situation because we struggled so much earlier this season. That we are now in this situation is very surprising, but I certainly won’t complain about that.”
Verstappen stressed that all he and Red Bull have to do from now on is “deliver perfect weekends” to have a serious chance of winning the title. “I experience it as a positive pressure,” he said.
“It is much more fun to race a competitive car than when it is not competitive. We can’t have another weekend of bad luck or make a mistake. But this team has proven in the past it can handle pressure well.”
The Grand Prix weekend in Mexico begins Friday at 8:30 p.m. (Dutch time) with the first free practice session. Qualifying is Saturday at 11 p.m. and Sunday at 9 p.m. the race begins.
