Max Verstappen makes “important to have peace” point after Helmut Marko resolution

Reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen has stressed the importance of having “peace” inside Red Bull after off-track drama has clouded the team.

It’s been a dramatic few weeks for Red Bull away from the race track.

From an investigation into Christian Horner’s alleged inappropriate behaviour to reports of an internal power struggle, Red Bull have dominated the media headlines.

The latest in that was Helmut Marko was set to be suspended over claims that the Red Bull advisor possibly leaked information from the investigation into Horner.

Marko’s potential suspension led to Max Verstappen make clear publicly that his loyalty is with the 80-year-old, and that if the Austrian was to leave Red Bull, he’d consider his future.

Ahead of the race in Saudi Arabia, Marko confirmed he will stay with Red Bull allowing positive talks with CEO Oliver Mintzlaff.

Speaking after his ninth F1 victory in a row, Verstappen responded to a question about Marko and it seemingly being resolved.

“I think everyone knows it is important to have peace in the team and to just focus on the driving aspect and performance aspect,” he said. “This is what we will try to do as a team.”

Verstappen dominated the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to take his 56th career victory.

It means Verstappen has won 19 of the last 20 races - a remarkable achievement.

Despite his ridiculous run of form, he knows there’s still room for improvement.

“I always just look at the race,” he added. “It doesn’t matter if you win or not. Always think and look at things you can do better, and I will try to analyse them over the coming days.

“I am very happy to win here. It was quite a long stint on the hard tyres. It was very low tyre deg of course so to keep them alive is probably the hardest bit today, especially the end with the backmarkers. It was quite a tricky situation where my tyres were getting too cold and being so close in the dirty air was quite difficult to drive.

“At the end, once I cleared them again, the feeling was back and we won the race which was the most important.”