No, no, no, no, NO! Mad Dog Helmut Marko did not refer to Verstappen as his problem child. However, despite bagging a driver’s world title, the Mad Dog believes Verstappen still “goes over the limit” in his quest to make up a clear car deficit over 2022 rivals Ferrari. What did the Mad Dog expect from Verstappen? Did he not see how he rammed his way to the 2021 championship? Mad Dog Marko is concerned that Max is pushing the limits of the car too far when he should be thinking strategically. Pushing the limits of the RB18 so hard will lead to more errors. The Red Bull quartermaster hoped that a driver’s championship would make Verstappen grow as a driver.

Speaking to a British F1 blog, the Red Bull romper stomper voiced his anxieties and concerns about Verstappen’s single-minded binary approach to driving.

“He goes over the limit, he wants too much. That didn’t work out here (Aussie GP Qualifying) in the last sector.”

“We thought that with the World Championship title… would be some calmness from him. But he probably needs another title so that he doesn’t go into qualifying with so much pressure.”

However speaking after qualifying for last week’s Aussie GP, Verstappen revealed why he was pushing so hard. The Red Bull RB18 was not setup to his liking.

“Not good. I didn’t really feel good in the car the whole weekend so far. I think there’s not been one lap when I actually felt confident, so a bit of a struggle.”

Is this the beginning of a fractured relationship between Verstappen and Red Bull? Both driver and team seem to have an unbreakable straightforward bond.

Problem child or not, such public criticism by a senior Red Bull figure through the envelope of journalism will not go down well with Verstappen who operates with a straightforward and no-nonsense approach.