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Marko saw a grumpy Verstappen: 'Don't make it bigger than it is'
- Ludo van Denderen
Max Verstappen is by no means a morning person. The Red Bull Racing driver likes to stay in bed a bit longer, especially when a top performance is expected of him. As Verstappen revealed on Saturday, the FIA's doping testers do not care about all that. They were at Verstappen's motorhome early on Friday morning for an unannounced check.
The clock struck 7 o'clock on Friday. Verstappen knows that for sure, because he looked at the time when suddenly there was a banging on the door of his motorhome. When he opened it in his pyjamas, not for the first time this season, doping controllers were standing there. In the end, it took an hour for Verstappen to produce a urine sample for the test.
Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing's external advisor, had obviously also learned that his protégé had been suddenly been made to get out of bed. "Max was a bit grumpy," Marko told De Telegraaf about it . "It's only a Friday, we shouldn't make it bigger than it is. People from such an agency often come early, because then it's easy to deliver the first pee of the day..."
'Red Bull car not as good as McLaren's'
For Verstappen, it is to be hoped that he was able to sleep well last night without being disturbed. After all, later in the day, the Dutch Grand Prix is scheduled, in which Verstappen will start second behind Lando Norris. A win is not a given for Marko. "Max has to work hard for it, our car is not as good as McLaren's," the Austrian said.
This article has been written in collaboration with Matt Gretton
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12 September 2024
