Max Verstappen now ‘practically running’ Red Bull claims Helmut Marko
Helmut Marko helped to nurture the likes of Max Verstappen during a glittering career at Red Bull
Max Verstappen is “practically running” Red Bull says former senior advisor Helmut Marko a few months on from his departure.
Verstappen’s greatest admirer left following the conclusion of the 2025 season, completing a year of change at Red Bull which saw its two most senior figures leave.
Max Verstappen leading Red Bull says Helmut Marko
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Ever since Dietrich Mateschitz’s death in 2022, the Red Bull team has been changing but 2025 was the most dramatic with both Marko and Christian Horner leaving.
In their place came the likes of Laurent Mekies, but Marko believes Verstappen is ‘practically running’ the team given his influence.
“Max has become such a leader now, he doesn’t need advice anymore – he’s practically running the team,” Marko told F1-Insider.
“Max is now a father, has cats and dogs, a balanced life – and is clearly one of the greats in motorsport, if not the greatest. But he has developed to such an extent that he no longer needs guidance. It would be presumptuous of me to add anything to that. In that sense, it’s a good solution.”
Marko is in unfamiliar territory as, for the first time in 21 years, he is not spending the winter preparing for a new season but he insists he is enjoying post-F1 life.
“The team has developed very well since the summer break, after Horner’s departure,” he said.
“I see everything is in good hands and I’m already enjoying the thought that I don’t have to fly to Australia in February.
“I’m arranging my TV viewing so that I have all the information I’m used to – because without sector times and things like that, a race is hard to read.”
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It was also believed that the decision to leave was not entirely his own with the Austrian energy drink company seeking to gain more control but Marko insisted that he always had plans to retire.
“Together with GP [Giampiero Lambiase], Max Verstappen’s engineer, I was actually convinced that we could and would win this fifth title.
“The disappointment was all the greater then. GP didn’t recover for a quarter of an hour. Then I started thinking.
“Beforehand, I had already considered that a fifth title would have been a good reason to step down.
“After some further consideration, I came to the conclusion that the fact that we didn’t win it was also a reason to quit.”
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