Throughout the Red Bull drama’s earlier this season, Max Verstappen and his mentor Dr. Helmut Marko have been permanently in step together. Toto Wolff circled like a vulture when rumours were in abundance that the world champion was considering leaving his Red Bull family.
Yet Marko and Max were in unison in terms of their non-denials, both fanning the flames of speculation in the paddock that Verstappen was considering above to Mercedes in 2026.
Following the sacking of long standing team boss Christian Horner, Max finally out to bed the speculation at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Verstappen losing his way?
Failing to admit he had fuelled the rumours, Verstappen told assembled media in Budapest: “The thing is always that people are waffling so much throughout the whole season, while the only one that actually can or should speak is not speaking. That’s me.
“Some people just like to stir the pot, some people just like to create drama. But, for me, it’s always been quite clear, and also for next year. And I do that on purpose because it makes no sense to start throwing things around, and actually that should be the same for everyone.
“I’m discussing with the team already the plans, the things that we want to change for next year. So that means that I’m also staying with the team for next year,” concluded the F1 world champion.
Whilst McLaren were piling on the wins in the early European racing season, Verstappen appeared to have lost his way and some level of interest in the title fight. An unnecessary and some would say ‘petulant’ move on George Russell in Spain caused him to receive a ten second time penalty and finish P10.
Max rules himself out of the title fight
Two rounds later he was taken out in Austria by Kimi Antonelli but the usual fighting response was not there from Verstappen. In Hungary Red Bull’s decision to give Max a two stop strategy left him in traffic for long periods of time and the world champion looked almost disinterested when interviewed after the race. These results, combined with McLaren’s dominant MCL39 left Verstappen down and out after his home Grand Prix in Zandvoort as he ruled himself out of this year’s drivers’ title.
Verstappen tested a GT3 car earlier in the near around the infamous Nordeschlieffe with a view to competing in Nürburgring Endurance Series (NLS) in September. He and team mate Chris Lulham drove a Ferrari 296 GT3 and won the four hour race, in between completing his F1 racing duties in Baku and Singapore.
Marko: Max lost interest
Last time out in Austin, Dr. Marko stated that Verstappen’s focus was not what it should have been earlier in the year. “Max, at one stage when we were not competitive, I would say he lost a little bit interest,” Marko told Sky Sports. “He was more interested in GT racing so to keep him in a good mood I was talking about Nurburgring and things like that.
“But now that the car is working and with his success at the Nurburgring, I would say two tenths just came from him because he’s really motivated, he’s enjoying [F1]. You don’t hear him shouting, he’s smiling so that’s what you need,” the 82 year old Austrian concluded.
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Verstappen moves away from Marko
Yet it appears Max is miffed over the comments made by his former mentor, who last year Verstappen defended when rumours swirled he was to be sacked from Red Bull. Whilst talk of a rift between the two may be overstated, Verstappen has clearly come out from under Marko’s wing.
Ahead of the Mexican Grand Prix, Max was asked whether he agreed with the comments Marko made last time out in Austin. “No, I don’t,” he stated adamantly. “Of course it’s more enjoyable coming to the race weekends like this than knowing that you don’t have a chance to win, but I know for myself that when I sit in the car I will always try to maximise everything that I have and I give it everything.
“So even if I’m fighting for P4 or even a P9, I will always try to get the best out of it.” Verstappen too was insistent that the GT3 racing was not a distraction event as Marko suggested. “Allowing me to do other stuff, this has been planned already for a long time,” he explained.
“So it’s not that this has suddenly come on the radar because these things have to be planned well in advance and the preparation for it as well so that it allowed me this year to compete myself in real life. Yeah, that was the first opportunity but I’ve been doing this also offline a lot, even racing during F1 weekends online so there’s nothing really that has changed in terms of how professional I approach my race weekends.”
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Verstappen rejects Marko comments
Having once ruled himself as out of this season’s F1 drivers’ title race Max now clearly believes he is in contention. “Of course naturally you want to win, you want to win the championship, of course I’ve won championships very late, very early.” The world champion reflected.
“Now this one is very different because I think for most of the season it was a lot harder for us, and to be honest with you, to still be in this fight is very surprising. But I’ll take it and now – like I said before – we need to be perfect, but for me it’s just positive pressure.
“I mean, I’m loving what I’m doing. If the car is competitive, it’s much better to be racing it than when it’s not. So yeah, every race that you do, I know until the end we can’t afford any bad luck or mistakes, but this team I think has shown in the past that normally we perform really well under pressure anyway and that’s what we’ll try to do until the end.”
Whilst hardly a split between Marko and Verstappen his outright rejection of his former mentor’s comments feels as though something has changed.
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A.J. Hunt is Senior Editor at TJ13, where Andrew oversees editorial standards and contributes to the site’s Formula 1 coverage. A career journalist with experience in both print and digital sports media, Andrew trained in investigative journalism and has written for a range of European sports outlets.
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