Helmut Marko warns Max Verstappen F1 quit threat is 'serious'
Max Verstappen is serious about his F1 quit threat, Red Bull's Helmut Marko says.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko says Max Verstappen's F1 quit threat should be taken “seriously”.
The three-time world champion admitted that “silly” rules in F1 could dictate his long-term future in the sport after he was ordered to “accomplish some work of public interest” by the FIA for swearing in the pre-event press conference at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Verstappen staged a protest against the punishment by giving short answers in both the post-qualifying and post-race press conferences in Singapore, before holding a separate media session with the attending media outside of the official FIA press conference room.
The 26-year-old, who holds a contract with Red Bull until the end of 2028, admitted his patience was wearing thin and that the saga with the FIA could speed up his exit from F1.
"These kinds of things definitely decide my future as well, when you can’t be yourself or you have to deal with these kinds of silly things," the Dutchman said.
"Now I am at the stage of my career where you don’t want to be dealing with this all the time. It’s really tiring. For me, that is not a way of continuing in the sport, that’s for sure."
Marko has warned that Verstappen’s threats are genuine.
"You have to take Max seriously,” Marko told Motorsport-Total. “He has achieved a great deal, but it is important to him that he also enjoys the whole sport.
“If that is increasingly spoiled for him, then he is of a character that when he says: 'Okay, that's it.’ He means it seriously, but I hope that the current situation won't really cause him to retire soon.”
Marko also accused the sport of double standards given the inclusion of swearing on Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, which has helped boost F1’s popularity, particularity in the United States.
"That's not understandable and there are double standards," the Austrian said. "And on top of that, Max didn't mean a person. He meant the car, an object, and he did it in a flippant way.
"Okay, maybe in an afternoon press conference, if it's all going to be handled so strictly you'll just take a different approach in the future. But it's clearly over the top."
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