"Does he know Max Verstappen already gave up?": Fans react to Helmut Marko claiming the 4x F1 champion is still in title contention

Max Verstappen is a massive 69 points off the lead of the championship standings after the British GP, but Helmut Marko has not ruled out the possibility of the Dutchman winning the fifth world title this year. However, fans quickly gave the Austrian a reality check on how even the reigning champion has lost hope of continuing his reign at the top of F1.

Red Bull has only been able to muster two race wins this year, that too courtesy of Verstappen. These two victories seem tiny in comparison to McLaren's impressive nine race wins, helping both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to stay ahead of the Dutchman in the championship standings.

After the Austrian GP retirement, Verstappen's distance to the top of the standings had already grown vast, leading to a dejected emotional stance of the 27-year-old after the race. While the paddock understands that the papaya drivers are now the favorites to win the championship, Marko thinks otherwise, as he still counts the Red Bull driver in the fight for the title.

"Ultimately, 5th place went to Max at Silverstone, just a week before the early retirement in Austria. This doesn't make it any easier for Verstappen to defend his title, but we're far from writing off the title," Marko wrote in his column in Speedweek.

On the other hand, fans quickly hit back at the 82-year-old's comments and shared how even Max Verstappen had given up on winning his fifth title.

"Does he know Max [Verstappen] already gave up." "It’s unlikely he’ll keep his title with these performances. He’s basically 70 points behind now," one fan wrote. "Helmut and his lies," another fan wrote.

A horde of other fans had the same idea and wrote:

"I aspire to be as delulu as him," one netizen wrote. "We are not far from writing off the title, because it has already been written off with the recent results," another netizen wrote. "Write it off he's not winning any championship this year," a third netizen wrote.

Meanwhile, Milton Keynes recently saw the departure of its supremo, Christian Horner, leaving Red Bull in the hands of Laurent Mekies.

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Max Verstappen bade an emotional goodbye to Christian Horner

Christian Horner and Max Verstappen at the 2021 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi - Source: Getty

Christian Horner's sudden axing caught the paddock off guard. While some reckoned that this decision was taken to keep the Max Verstappen camp happy, the latter had always shared a good relationship with the Briton in public.

Reflecting on the success he achieved with Horner at the helm of the team, Verstappen penned a farewell message to the 51-year-old on his social media.

"From my first race win, to four World Championships, we have shared incredible successes. Winning memorable races and breaking countless records. Thank you for everything, Christian!"

With the British GP done and dusted, 12 rounds of racing action remain in the F1 sphere.

Edited by Rupesh