Helmut Marko blocked Max Verstappen from taking part in a fan event which will mark Sebastian Vettel's first run in a Formula 1 car since his retirement.
The German retired at the end of last season after two years with Aston Martin. He raced for Ferrari before that, but the bulk of his F1 success came as a Red Bull driver.
Vettel will be reunited with one of his four title-winning cars later this year at an event at the Nurburgring. He will drive the RB7 in a show run for fans at the famous Germany circuit, and won't be the only F1 alum doing so.
Daniel Ricciardo, reserve for the team this year, will also be making an appearance. He will drive an RB8 in the same show event – another of Vettel's title-winning machines.
Verstappen has admitted he was interest in taking part as well. However, as he told reporters in Montreal on Thursday, long-serving team adviser Marko quickly put his foot down.
The Dutchman said: "I wanted to do it, but I was not allowed by Helmut. He knew that I would try and go to the limits. I would have loved to do it."
Asked if he could have used his influence to change Marko's mind, Verstappen added: "I didn't want to start unnecessary issues. I heard this thing was coming up, and Helmut was sitting at the table when it came up, and he said, 'No, no, no, you're not doing that!'"
Verstappen went on to show that Marko may have a point about his competitiveness. He admitted that he would have been tempted to try to smash the Nordschleife lap record if given the chance.
He continued: "It's also risky to drive here. It just depends on how you hit a barrier. But that's normally not the plan, of course. But hopefully one day I can do it."
"Ideally, that would have been amazing in an F1 car. But if it's not allowed in an F1 car, then maybe one day in a GT3 car."
