Dr Helmut Marko has brushed away any suggestion that Max Verstappen could be crowned world champion this weekend in Saudi Arabia. So when told that the statisticians are hurriedly calculating Verstappen’s chances of wrapping up the title in Saudi Arabia, top team official Marko hit back. “Only Bottas ever breaks down at Mercedes,” Marko hit back. It is believed Mercedes sent key engineers to Jeddah very early to assess the circuit, to which Marko answered: “No, we didn’t do that. As for Verstappen’s chances this weekend, then, Marko said: “We had no chance in Brazil, and in Qatar we made a mistake with the setup.

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