Helmut Marko, Red Bull Formula 1 advisor, thinks that Max Verstappen lost F1 battle points to innocence.
He believes that his championship lead over Hamilton would have been over 50 points, if Dutchman had been cautious.
Verstappen won the Texas Grand Prix which increased his lead over Hamilton by 12 points. Both drivers have only five races left to conquer the 2021 F1 championship title.
Marko pointed out the venues, Britain, Hungary and Azerbaijan, where Verstappen could have done much better to increase his lead.
Verstappen and Hamilton collided on the first lap at British Grand Prix, which led to DNF for the former. However, the Brit was handed a 10 second penalty for the collision.
The Dutchman was unlucky at Baku circuit where his car tyre exploded leading to a crash and another DNF. He finished ninth at Hungarian Grand Prix after sustaining damage at the start.
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“Before the last three races, we actually feared that we would be significantly behind,” Marko told Autosport.
“The bottom line is that we scored more points than Hamilton in those grands prix, mainly because of Hamilton’s race in Turkey where he was only fifth, while Max finished second in Sochi – certainly by luck as well, because of the rain.
“But even more remarkable is: we innocently lost Baku, lost Silverstone and lost Hungary. If you calculate the amount of points we lost carefully, then it’s over 50 points in those three races.
“As a result we are only 12 points ahead now. So we have survived all those setbacks and we have also been able to match the upswing from Mercedes.”
Marko maintains that Verstappen requires two more victories to maintain his lead in championship battle.
“Looking at the remaining races, I think we have to win at least two more races to be reasonably safe or, let’s say, confident going into the final race,” he said.
“The high altitude tracks of Brazil and Mexico should suit us significantly better. It’s just that so much has already happened this season.
“So-called Mercedes tracks weren’t Mercedes tracks in the end and the same goes for Red Bull tracks.”
Marko responded to the chances of Verstappen winning the title, he said: “If we win the next two races, then it’s 60-40 for Max.”
