Helmut Marko isn’t buying the Mercedes hype train — and he’s convinced Max Verstappen was right to stick with Red Bull for 2025.
After months of paddock whispering about a blockbuster switch to Brackley, Verstappen shut it down at the Hungarian Grand Prix, confirming he’ll be in a Red Bull next season. For Marko, that always felt like the only logical outcome.
“He’s a cornerstone of this team,” Red Bull’s motorsport advisor told F1-Insider, noting Verstappen’s entire F1 career and all his successes have come in Red Bull machinery. The Dutchman is under contract through 2028, and while an exit clause has been widely discussed, Marko’s view is simple: with 2026 looming and the sport heading into its biggest technical overhaul in years, betting on a sure thing is impossible.
That’s the crux of his argument. Mercedes has been talking up its prospects for the next rules reset, much as it did before the 2014 hybrid era it then dominated. Red Bull, meanwhile, is building its first in-house power unit with Ford for 2026. Plenty of variables, plenty of risk — and, as Marko points out, precious little hard evidence about who will nail the chassis-PU package out of the gate.
“Nobody knows what 2026 will look like,” he said, pushing back on Mercedes’ self-appointed favourite tag. It’s not just the engines; the aero and packaging puzzle could reshuffle the deck in ways nobody can model with certainty.
The Verstappen-to-Mercedes noise was fueled by a combustible mix: last year’s off-track turmoil around Christian Horner, the exits of Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, and McLaren’s surge that clipped Red Bull’s aura of inevitability. That gave the rumour mill plenty to chew on. But Verstappen himself framed it as business as usual — head down, focused on performance and planning with the team.
From Marko’s vantage point, staying put is the pragmatic call. Continuity matters when the goalposts move. And if Red Bull does get it wrong? He left the door ajar: should next year expose a deeper competitive slide, Verstappen “can always reconsider.” It’s a rare public acknowledgment from Marko that even dynasties must keep proving it.
For now, the reigning World Champion commits to the project he knows, with the reset on the horizon and a familiar target on his back. The rest is just paddock theatre — at least until 2026 answers the only question that matters.
