Helmut Marko: “Penalty for Max Verstappen was harsh, in F2 they only gave warnings to 2-3 drivers”. Helmut Marko calls Verstappen’s five-second penalty in Jeddah harsh.

Race lost at the start
A win in Jeddah would have been a major coup for Red Bull and Max Verstappen—an unexpected repeat after the masterpiece already delivered in Suzuka. But the victory, which would have earned him the lead in the Drivers’ Championship, slipped away in just a few seconds and a few meters.

The Dutchman didn’t get a great start, Oscar Piastri was on the inside at Turn 1, Max Verstappen tried to hold on by cutting the chicane, and the result was an indisputable five-second penalty.

Helmut Marko commented on the incident and the race to Sky Sport Deutschland: “I think the race was lost at the start. Where was Max supposed to go? In the Formula 2 race, the same thing happened to two or three drivers, and they were only given warnings. So those five seconds were quite harsh. Oscar Piastri was ahead initially, but in the final phase of braking Max was in front. In any case, there’s no point in arguing—it happened. The positive thing is that the pace was there, but overtaking is incredibly difficult. Once the penalty came, we focused only on safely bringing home second place. Could Max have won without the penalty? Yes.” – the Red Bull advisor concluded at the end of the 2025 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend.