Helmut Marko shares a pre-race bet involving Max Verstappen at the 2023 F1 Mexican GP
Helmut Marko has revealed that he had a pre-race bet with Max Verstappen's engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, that the driver would be able to jump to the lead of the 2023 F1 Mexican GP on the first turn. As it turns out, the Austrian won his bet. Max started the race in P3, as he was out-qualified by the two Ferraris.
The challenge did not last long, as the Red Bull driver would have a storming start to the race that helped him leapfrog both Ferraris into the lead. From that point on, it was more or less a straightforward race for Max Verstappen, as he opted to go for a two-stop race compared to the single-stop race for Charles Leclerc behind him.
With the red flag stoppage, everything was neutralized, but once again, Max Verstappen got a brilliant start and was able to lead the race into turn 1 and then manage it from there.
Talking about the race, Helmut Marko told Motorsport.com about the pre-race bet, saying:
“Max actually did everything well, and his start was a masterpiece. I had made a bet with Gianpiero Lambiase about who would lead after Turn 1. GP lost that bet. I don’t bet with Max anymore, but I do with GP. It was the second time and I also won twice."
He added:
"The good start allowed Max to do his own thing. He was actually controlling the race as usual. The red flag just came at an unfortunate time for us. Without it, I think our dominance could have been even greater.”
Max Verstappen reflects on the start of the Mexican GP
Max Verstappen felt that the start of the race was critical, as it helped him stretch things out as he was on a two-stop strategy. Talking about the start, where he jumped both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
He said:
"Yeah, I think that start definitely made it a bit easier for me in the first stint as well. Also, because I was going to do a two-stop, so yeah, that, of course, gave me those extra couple seconds that would look great on the plot anyway, if we would have made it happen."
He added:
"So, yeah, just the tyres around here, it's always very hard to manage, but I think we had quite decent pace in them. And then of course, we opted to box a bit earlier."
Verstappen picked up his 16th win of the season, a new record for the most wins by a driver in a season.