Helmut Marko considering exit from Red Bull amid season struggles
Laurent Mekies has heaped praise on Helmut Marko for helping navigate Red Bull’s mid-season troubles. But the big question hanging over the team now is whether Marko will stick around as Max Verstappen‘s advisor.
“Helmut has been incredible in how supportive he has been in helping us turning around things this year,” Mekies said.
The paddock was caught off guard when Marko dropped a bombshell after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Despite having a contract through 2025, the veteran advisor revealed he’s thinking about whether to continue his role into 2026.
Marko was tight-lipped about his reasons, only calling it “a complex set of different things.” When pressed about what his heart was telling him, he didn’t give a straight answer.
Instead, he pointed to the championship loss.
“It’s bloody difficult to get a fifth championship in a row,” Marko said. “If circumstances… You have to perform, you can’t make mistakes. That’s the result. It’s a disappointment for me that I didn’t achieve the goal.”
He’s clearly taking the failure to secure a fifth title with Verstappen personally.
“I have to see, I have to sleep on it and then we’ll see,” he added.
## Changing power dynamics
Mekies seemed surprised by Marko’s comments when asked about them by GPblog.
“Formula 1 is not a static environment, you always make adjustments to your organization,” the French team boss explained. “It’s completely normal that we review how we can improve the way we operate all the time.”
He went on to express genuine gratitude for Marko’s contributions during a challenging season.
“I can only thank Helmut for the role he has played in making what fundamentally looked like a difficult situation mid-season work with the squad.”
Despite sounding like a goodbye, sources tell GPblog that Mekies was simply highlighting Marko’s importance to the team. His use of past tense seems to be mostly due to English not being his first language.
The decision now rests mainly with Marko himself, though one British newspaper claims his departure has already been decided behind closed doors.
What’s clear is that Marko’s influence has diminished recently. He no longer has the complete authority over driver decisions that he enjoyed for years.
The coming days should reveal whether a good night’s sleep changes his mind about continuing another year or if he’ll call time on his remarkable career in F1.
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