Helmut Marko has revealed that Max Verstappen’s Red Bull suffered severe undercarriage damage, leading to a significant loss of downforce and severely affecting his qualifying performance ahead of the British Formula 1 Grand Prix. Verstappen was forced to accelerate on the gravel on the outside of Copse corner in mixed conditions in Q1 – where he had an unfortunate accident in 2021 – and suffered significant damage to the car’s floorboards.

This is the same corner that Sergio Perez spun a few minutes earlier in the opening part of qualifying, leaving the Mexican driver’s RB20 stranded and eventually eliminated in Q1. For the three-time F1 champion, he struggled with his car into Q3, where fourth was the best he could achieve thanks to Red Bull’s adjustments to minimize the impact of the damage. What is worrying is that the car floor introduced for the British GP race is a car floor with new specifications.

Given the extent of damage to Verstappen’s car floor, Marko was delighted that the Dutch driver secured a place on the second row. “I’m extremely happy,” Marko shared with Sky DE. “Max went off the track at turn 9 and suffered about 100 points of downforce damage. “The mechanics have done everything they can in this short time to make repairs. “For the rest, we made some adjustments to the wing so we were able to reduce the damage to about 20 percent in the final part of qualifying. Fourth place was amazing.”

While Verstappen remains the favorite to win on Sunday at Silverstone, Red Bull are not the strongest team. Both McLaren and Mercedes showed strong pace in all conditions, while Red Bull seemed to lag behind. According to Marko, the traditional Silverstone airflow plays a huge role in pushing the car to the limit. The advisor did not think pole position could have been achieved without floor damage. “The car was poisonous,” Marko admitted. “On top of that, the car doesn’t always react the same way. “The wind also played a role, we were definitely at the limit. I really don’t think pole position is achievable, but P2 could be.”