Max Verstappen at odds with Helmut Marko as Red Bull ace denies close ally's comments

Max Verstappen has rejected close ally Helmut Marko's claim that he 'lost interest' in Formula One during Red Bull's slump earlier this season, shifting his focus and excitement more toward GT racing ahead of his Nurburgring debut.

The reigning world champion is currently in the midst of a dramatic World Championship comeback after cutting the deficit to leader Oscar Piastri to just 40 points, having been over 100 back from the McLaren racer after the Dutch Grand Prix in early September.

After Verstappen clinched his third victory in four race weekends at the United States Grand Prix, Marko made some interesting comments to Sky Sports F1. "Max at one stage when we were not competitive, I would say he lot a little bit of interest," he said.

"He was more interested in GT racing, so to keep him in a good mood, I was talking about Nurburgring and things like that. But now that the car is working, and [he had] his success at the Nurburgring.

"I would say two tenths just came from him because he's really motivated, he's enjoying, you don't hear him shouting, he's smiling. That's what you need. It's too early to say [if he's in the title fight], but this weekend looks promising."

Ahead of this weekend's Mexican Grand Prix, Verstappen was asked if he agreed with Marko's comments. "No, I don't," he replied. "Of course, it's more enjoyable coming to the race weekends like this than knowing that you don't have a chance to win.

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"But I know for myself that when I sit in the car, I will always try to maximise everything that I have and I give it everything. So even if I'm fighting for P4 or even a P9, I will always try to get the best out of it."

Delving into the GT racing conversations, he continued: "Allowing me to do other stuff, this has been planned already for a long time so it's not that this has suddenly come on the radar because these things have to be planned well in advance and the preparation for it as well so that it allowed me this year to compete myself in real life.

"Yeah, that was the first opportunity, but I've been doing this also offline a lot, even racing during F1 weekends online, so there's nothing really that has changed in terms of how professional I approach my race weekends."