Marko apologises after false Hamilton accusation

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has apologised for falsely accusing Lewis Hamilton of making a mistake when running into the back of Max Verstappen during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Before Verstappen was summoned to the stewards for the lap-38 incident, Marko had claimed the Dutch driver and team had "been treated unfairly".

Marko went on to suggest Red Bull was "working to prove Max’s braking pressure did not increase when he crashed with Hamilton”, and that the seven-time F1 champion "simply misjudged and drove into Max’s car".

The stewards subsequently proved Verstappen applied his brakes in an "erratic" way, with their report highlighting he also did so "suddenly [69 bar] and significantly, resulting in 2.4g deceleration".

Upon reflection, a contrite Marko told f1-insider.com: “At the time of the television interview, I passed on exactly the information I had previously received from the engineers.

“They obviously weren’t right, so I’m sorry.”

With Hamilton going on to win the race and collecting the point for fastest lap, with Verstappen second, it means the duo go into this weekend's final race in Abu Dhabi facing a winner-takes-all showdown as they are level on points.

Marko is adamant Red Bull and Verstappen will attempt to win the title fairly, with the hope the revamped circuit plays to the strengths of the RB16B.

“Hopefully, the sad chapter of Saudi Arabia has now closed,” added Marko.

“In any case, we are just looking ahead. We want to win in Abu Dhabi and so win the title. We will do everything for this, but we will not take any unfair actions.

“In Saudi Arabia, we already had the pace to keep up with Hamilton. The track in Abu Dhabi should be more accommodating to us.”

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