Marko reveals Verstappen’s thoughts on Lawson sacking – The good Dr. Helmut Marko, advisor to the Red Bull energy empire and head of the Red Bull young driver programme, is hastily doing the media rounds following the shock announcement that Red Bull were demoting the latest team mate of world champion Max Verstappen.
Red Bull started the 2024 season having smashed pretty much every F1 record there is the previous year, winning 21 of the 22 Grand Prix, claiming the constructors’ title with Max leading a 1-2 finish in the drivers’ title race.
And there were no early signs of trouble in Milton Keynes come the start of last season as Verstappen claimed victory in four of the opening five rounds and only losing out in Australia due to a huge brake failure as he was leading the race. Perez to was doing his part to continue the team’s record breaking run converting three of his team mate’s victories into 1-2 finishes along with a third place in China.
The car’s a “bitch” says Marko
Yet that was as good as it got for Red Bull last year as come round six in Miami, McLaren brought an upgrade to their MCL38 which delivered Lando Norris his maiden victory and sounded the warning bells back at Red Bull’s HQ.
Red Bull subsequently brought a number of upgrades to the RB20, but come the Hungarian Grand Prix, Dr. Helmut Marko was describing the car as a “bitch” to drive. Max was now on a run of four Grand Prix without a victory and just a single podium since his last win in Spain and was clearly unhappy in Budapest stating: “With all those upgrades, it’s still not good enough. I do feel frustrated about that. Because I had hoped it would have brought a bit more.
“Everything is working, but not the steps we want to make, I think. It’s just really hard to find a good balance. It’s very easy to go over and then you immediately lose quite a lot of time,” reported the world champion.
Dr. Marko confirmed to AMuS that Red Bull had taken a wrong turn along the way. “At the start of the season, we had a car that was as balanced as the McLaren is now, it could handle all tracks and all conditions. Then we took a wrong turn somewhere. The car has become a bitch that only Max can tame.”
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RB21 behind expectations
Whilst Red Bull Racing brought improvements to the RB20 win the autumn, the litmus test over whether the car had improved were the results of Sergio Perez. He scored just 21 points over the final ten weekends of the year and dropped out of quali 1 on four occasions complaining that the car wouldn’t turn or was on a knife edge in terms of rear end grip.
Come the turn of the year, Red Bull appeared confident their work on the new RB21 had ironed out some of the inherent problems in its predecessor, although pre-season testing proved inconclusive as to where the car sat in the new F1 pecking order.
At the season opener in Australia, Max qualified third behind the McLaren pair, but of concern was that he was half a second off Norris the pole sitter. A wet race on Sunday created thrilling action at times and a mistake from Oscar Piastri saw the world champion hunt down the race leader over the closing laps. Verstappen finished under a second behind Norris who looked to have the attacks from the Red Bull driver under control.
Come Sprint qualifying next time out in China and Max was second to Lewis Hamilton, a position he he lost in the shortened for race to Oscar Pisatri. Grand Prix qualifying was up next and Verstappen was just P4, although his time was less than two tenths of a second behind the pole sitter Piastri.
Verstappen says he’s relaxed in China
Verstappen comfortably finished in fourth place but now the RB21 was 17 seconds behind the eventual winner, a far cry from the year previous, when Verstappen’s winning margins were in the region of thirty seconds. Max claimed his car was not capable of beating the McLaren’s but was surprisingly upbeat as he outlined “it’s never good enough, of course, but I think we expected a tiny bit more from it ourselves.”
In China, Verstappen was disappointed with his P2 and P4, but again failed to lambast the RB21. In fact when questioned over his future with the Red Bull team, Max dismissed talk of his leaving out of hand before adding: “I’m actually very relaxed. I’m very positive in my mind. I’m enjoying life, you know?”
“So every time I jump in the car, I just try to do the best I can, and I’m not thinking about anything else, to be honest, because I feel good in life in general, if that’s in the car, outside the car, and that’s actually what matters the most.”
Meanwhile his new team mate Liam Lawson was having a nightmare of a start to his Red Bull racing career. Having started from the pit lane in Melbourne, he crashed out mid race due to driver error in changeable conditions.
Tsunoda forced to take the Red Bull seat
Marko: “Max is not happy”
Come China things were to get worse for the Kiwi. He finished plumb last in both the Sprint and Grand Prix qualifying sessions and his P2 on Sunday was flattering given there drivers ahead of him had been disqualified. The result was this week Lawson was demoted to the Racing Bulls and replaced by Yuki Tsunoda now in his fifth F1 year with the Red Bull organisation.
Max appeared angry at Red Bulls’ treatment of Liam Lawons, liking a post by fellow Dutch racing driver Guido van de Garde which accused the team of “bullying” their young Kiwi driver. Not promising for in garage harmony come Suzuka in a weeks time.
Speaking to Dutch publication De Telegraaf, Dr. Helmut Marko reveals directly that Max Verstappen is unhappy with the recent events at Red Bull Racing. “We know Max is not happy,” the veteran Austrian said. “But we need two cars at the front.”
This felt some kind of public explanation the Austrian felt was necessary to mollify his star driver. Marko went on to suggest that it was not just the team that needed the change, but even Verstappen’s hopes of a fifth title this year could rest upon having the right team mate.
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Verstappen needs persuading its for his own good
“[It’s] not only for the constructors’ championship, but also to help Max to his fifth world title,” he said. “Then you can achieve more strategically in races.” Marko admitted that the Red Bull management had made a “unanimous” mistake in choosing Lawson over Tsunoda and even that Yuki has surprised his detractors with top ten qualifying results this year.
“We can use Yuki’s experience and form now,” added the Austrian. “That counts. At the end of the day, that is to the advantage of the team. And that also means to the advantage of Max.”
Marko’s full on polemic of the benefits Tsunoda will bring to Verstappen’s season, is unusually supportive of the team’s decision to promote their Japanese driver alongside the world champion. It reads as though Max is yet to be persuaded of the matter and so Dr. Marko is explaining it in detail.
Another explanation could be simply Marko is covering for his own part in the original decision to promote Lawson, with Christian Horner revealing in December it was a tight decision which “split” the room.
Jos Verstappen statement: Remarkable as usual
Red Bull Racing are once again the centre of a Formula One controversy having sacked their latest recruit as Verstappen’s team mate after just two weekends of the 2025 season. The blame game has begun within the organisation as Dr. Helmut Marko called the Liam Lawson call up as a “mistake” which he thenconveniently informed the world was a “unanimous” decision made by the Red Bull management in December.
Max Verstappen has demonstrated his displeasure at the driver switch between Tsunoda and Lawson by liking a post by Dutch racing driver Guideo van de Garde, which stated the treatment of the Kiwi driver was tantamount to “bullying.”
Lawson has reacted to the move with graciousness posting on social media: “It’s tough, but I’m grateful for everything that’s brought me to this point,” he said adding his appreciation to the Racing Bull’s team for his new opportunity… READ MORE
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