Helmut Marko admits he “feared” Max Verstappen would need more time to recover from his Silverstone crash, but the good news is he is fighting fit.
Verstappen suffered a massive crash at the British Grand Prix, sent hurtling into the tyre barrier with an impact of 51G as he came off second best in his battle against Lewis Hamilton.
The Dutchman was taken to a local hospital for a check up having complained of dizziness, and was released later that night.
Thankfully he had suffered nothing worse than bruises and a sore neck.
Marko, though, was initially worried that his driver wouldn’t be fit for the Hungarian Grand Prix given the huge impact of the crash.
He told Sport1: “I feared that it would take a little longer after the severe accident before Max was fully recovered. So that’s good news.
“He will fight back in Hungary.”
And, he insisted, it will be “with fair means. There are no thoughts of revenge.”
Red Bull have requested an official review of Hamilton’s penalty, feeling the 10 seconds was too lenient.
The Milton Keynes squad says they have new evidence that will the stewards had not seen, evidence that will put the incident in a “different light”.
But one thing that won’t be different is Verstappen’s attitude out on track.
Marko is confident the driver won’t feel the need to adopt a less aggressive approach when he again comes up against Hamilton in an on-track fight.
“No,” Marko said, “he didn’t do anything wrong.”
Verstappen heads into the Hungarian Grand Prix with an eight-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship. It was 33 before Sunday’s British GP.
