Helmut Marko SACKED From Red Bull Racing

Helmut Marko is poised to be ousted from Red Bull. What does that mean for Max Verstappen?

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In a surprise twist AFTER the 2025 F1 season was won by Lando Norris, Red Bull Racing’s special advisor Helmut Marko is set to be removed from involvement with the Formula 1 team for its 2026 campaign. The specifics are not yet clear. Will he retire fully or be relegated into something far less frontline such as the Formula One paddock. What happened? Has Isack Hadjar been spared a tense 2026?

Well, quite a lot. The last few weeks packed with controversial driver contracts and ragebait toward Kimi Antonelli after the Qatar GP. Will Max care about this?

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The Old Red Bull Is Gone For Good

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This isn’t good news for Red Bull. Or is it? Helmet Marco may be out the door sooner than expected, and it might have had something to do with a certain gun deal. Red Bull looks set to lose another pillar of its dream team by year’s end, one season before Marco’s deal was meant to be due. His role as special adviser is now firmly in the realms of the foam of doubt. Seriously, what exactly is happening here? What brought us to this situation where we all thought Helmet Marco had won the battle against Christian her. Now he’s out the door. What exactly happened here? Well, I’ll tell you. It’s down to corporate sanitization because Helmet Marco these days is uh he’s problematic. But naturally, it’s caused a lot of speculation regarding Max Vstappen’s future with the team to now be brought back into the spotlight again. But this all came from when Marco made comments in the wake of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which got the ball rolling to where we are now, not even 48 hours after Lando Norris was crowned champion. We got a clearer picture, folks. So, here are the words of Marco for your consideration. And considering this might be the last time we hear from Marco, or at least the beginning of the end, I may as well do the accent. Eh, will you see me again next year? Well, we’ll have internal discussions and we’re not in a hurry. During the years of team founder DRI data shits I didn’t even have a contract. It’s important to me that I feel comfortable and it’s not in doubt I will have a discussion and then see what I do. It’s a complex set of different things. I had to sleep over it and then we will see. And you see right there folks this sounds like a man trying very hard to be polite about something that may have already been decided because you just look at that statement right there. is that he was talking about what it was like under Dietrich Matitz, that he and they were bros, that they didn’t even need to have a piece of paper to say that he was a special adviser to Red Bull. Dietrich trusted helmet completely for his experience with motor racing. I don’t think you need me to tell you about the success rate of Red Bull since the 20 years that Red Bull first got into Formula 1 after buying out Jaguar. Dearri’s punt turned out to be, I would say, pretty good. Now though, Marco’s language doesn’t really sound like he’s going to be around for much longer, and he’s certainly not enjoying this brand new Red Bull, not negotiating an extension to his current deal. Oh, no. No. This is somebody who wants to decide how he’s going to be walking out the door and maybe who or what will replace him. And then, as that’s going on, serious outlets, including the race and many other journalism outlets, are saying that he will be leaving Red Bull in a matter of days. Sky Sports, for example, framing it in the same breath as Christian her removal and Oliver Minsloff’s desire for a fresh start. Then we’ve got race fans relaying Dutch paper Dimberger saying that he is to leave after a meeting with Minsloff. This isn’t going to be some spectacular volatile saying, “Now you’re fired, mate. Get out of the door.” This is probably Oliver and Helmet getting down saying, “This isn’t going to work, mate.” And then of course there’s all the stuff that’s happening with GP. I mean, that is still up in the air at the moment regarding his role with the team. That might be for another video, but safe to say that many important figureheads at Red Bull might be out in the next few months. It probably may not have finished with her. But speaking of her, you would have thought that Marco, after winning that battle, would have been set until he chose to retire on his terms, that he had the power and backing of both sides of Red Bull, the Austrian side and the Thai side. Well, I guess not. I’m sure that Christian is laughing into his risky right now as he’s plotting his inevitable return to Formula 1 from his Oxfordshire mansion. But seriously, this is a real shocker. And the manner of this exit just paints a picture that Red Bull these days is no longer the party team in that it simply makes too much money for it to be a bunch of mavericks. Because under Matasha, Marco acted like some kind of warlord, a trusted warlord whose bond was like a kinsman. like kindred spirits. That’s all you had to have. You didn’t have to just go, “Oh, well, you better make sure that all the conditions are met.” No, no, no, no, no. There was no time for that. And he was one to make ruthless driver calls. And it worked. Facts over emotion, as her would say in regards to Albon’s demotion to test driver, for example. And that culture, it did suit a very small founder company. But since Natasha’s death 3 years ago, Red Bull is no longer that. And with this news, as stated by Planet F1, Marco was the last major piece of the old guard still in place after Horner’s exit. And Red Bull held office has been gradually pulling influence back from the thief, you could say, of Milton Kees towards a more sanitized and centrally controlled structure from Saltsburg. They’re the ones in charge now. It’s not a little personal oasis within the Milton Kees area. They are just another department. A department who just so happens to be quite successful, quite profitable. It’s a multi-billion dollar company, and it’s also one that attracts the most attention and scrutiny amongst many of Red Bull’s endeavors, especially when things go south, and after the appointment of Mechy’s, things actually had died down quite a bit, and there was a lot of goodwill going toward the team. But then in the last couple of weeks, it’s been put into jeopardy. Put simply, I just don’t think Red Bull is a team that is likely to give it a go these days anymore. or no, they’ll say, “Well, you can give it a go so long as you follow the right sets of parameters and protocols and stuff.” And it feels like both parties are sick and tired of the situation and just want to call time on it and just, you know, go their separate ways. But no, we are not done, folks. And uh funny, I should mention that because it does involve Alex Dunn. So, you remember the situation where Alex Dunn spectacularly left the McLaren driver development program? I can imagine that McLaren were not happy with the situation. Whereas Alex, oh no, he seemed elated. He seemed as happy as a pig in mud. Only now have McLaren have been able to readjust themselves with Fornoli leading the charge, but that’s for another video. And we got all of this revelation from Dimberger via race fans, which proved to us that yes, indeed, Alex Dunn was destined for the Red Bull Junior team. That is until Red Bull central office stepped in. Because from that publication, Marco apparently signed both Arvid Limblad and Alex Dunn before head office actually approved it. The comments Marco made about Dunn around the time of his exit from McLaren turned out to be true. That he would make a good Red Bull driver because he was about to become one. But then that seemed to have been blocked by a force greater than Marco. The old way of doing things that probably would have gotten Alex on board had been denied him. And that could be a fair enough reason for Marco to remove himself from the project out of sheer disgust because this is not the way that he had been used to doing things for the last two decades which managed to secure the services of titans of the sport like Sebastian Fettle and Max Vstappen and multiple race winners. So now what we’ve got is a timeline where Arvid Limblad just about secures his racing bull seat by the skin of his teeth because he was already embedded with the Red Bull Junior program and Christian her believed in the kid as well. The momentum was right there. The investment was there. But then we’re done. Oh well, he’s out of the job. He quit McLaren to take a punt at a more likely F1 seat, but then that got rejected by Red Bull HR and now he’s left without a program. Now the rumors are circulating that this is the situation we’re at, folks. And that, you know, the sanctuary that Alex has now got is with the Alpine Academy, but they’ve already got Paul Aaron there as their reserve. what’s going to happen with the other talents like Kushmi and Gabriel Leini. I mean, yeah, it’s a very crowded area. I feel really bad for Alex. I really, really do. I just feel really grateful that Rhoden really believes in Alex and are sticking with him to the bitter end. I mean, considering that Rhoden used to be Carlin, who was a titan in junior motorsport, that is not really a surprise. But yeah, that saga was a shocker. a young driver leaving McLaren’s academy for a Red Bull deal, but the corporate Red Bull stepped in the way of it. Helmet’s gut feeling, which as I said has proven to be more accurate over the years than other soothsayers. And it just makes me want to ask you, who’s actually in the right? Was Marco right to bring in somebody like Dunn who had potential, who in just one year of being in the McLaren Academy went from being a middling F3 driver to being a top five F2 driver. Who knows where he could have been with one more year in Formula 2 with Red Bull backing. He could have been a title contender. He might still be. But neither one of those parties are going to be reaping the benefits from it. But what we can agree upon is that the way that Red Bull had been doing things with his junior program and maybe in other avenues is simply not feasible anymore. It’s it’s done. The old Red Bull is dead and Limblad was the last product of the old school hiring system. But yeah, this revelation for corporate Red Bull is a complete and utter nightmare. one that they cannot win. Because in all of this, they want to look like a mature global brand right up there as being one of the behemoths of Formula 1. One that is squeaky clean and is able to garner as much public attention and sponsorship attention as McLaren. And they’re trying to get rid of the team that was based on vibes led by an 82year-old. But at the same time, what they’ve just done with this corporate blocking of Alex’s move to the Red Bull Junior team, which would have been a coup, is show that they are now locked in the situation where they are not going to be trusting one man. It’s going to be judged by a committee. The done move is not a silly one because getting him into that program would have made logical sense, but not to Oliver Minsloff and his crew. Clearly, only Arvid survived this predicament. But even the Lindberger reports suggesting that Marco pushed that one hard as well. That maybe head office were not keen on getting the British driver into F1 next year because a rookie with no F3 or F2 titles to his name into a full-time F1 seat. Maybe natural talent in the eyes of corporate Red Bull might not have been enough, but it might turn out to be genius. But from the outside, it does look like classic Marco, but a thing that’s not especially board friendly anymore. Then we move on to Qatar, which is something I personally think was the straw that broke the Red Bull camel’s back. Because this was just yet another example that even though Marco has been relatively restrained this year and actually almost commiserating to Yuki Cenoda at various points, even going as far as apologizing to the driver for the situation at Red Bull. It all came back to Earth with a bump. And I can easily imagine that Minsloff took a look at what happened and was like, “No, we cannot be dealing with this anymore.” Because after Norris passed Anteneelli late in the race, as we all know, Max’s race engineer GP believed that Antonyelli may have effectively waved Norris through and helped McLaren against Vstappen. It was just a bit of banter or a little bit of a chat that wasn’t intended for public hearing. Tensions were bad enough because people were saying, “Well, those two points could easily make the difference.” And as we know by now, they did. And then what Marco said afterwards just escalated the speculation into headline drama. But then may I point out we saw more replays and it clearly showed that Antonyelli simply made a mistake. Red Bull eventually made a statement and then we found out that it was Max Stafen who pushed for that team to make the statement that quickly and then Marco said, “Well, I took a second look and you know he had to walk back his words.” The confidence he had saying, “Well, isn’t it obvious he let Lando through?” No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Your confidence was misguided, mate. And that might have been the thing that sealed your fate because as you all saw, Toto and Mercedes, they did not take this lying down. They logged over a thousand messages of abuse towards Antellle and then has gotten the FIA involved. And the stupidest part of all this is that this was aimed at a 19-year-old rookie, a rookie who has the complete respect of Max Stappen. And this is just reminding us all of what Helmet said regarding Isaac Hajar who a 20-year-old in his first race made an unfortunate error on the formation lap. And then look what he was able to do in the rest of the season. And then Marco calling Bortalto a Cgrade driver and look what Bortalto goes on to do. So it’s no wonder that Toto basically said ah well look at these all completely blameless comments. What did and on top of all of that the stappen was leading the damage control within that team. He took charge. Max did to prevent a Latifi like powder keg from going off. Yes, it may linger, but hopefully it won’t get nearly as venomous toward the Italian. And as many of you probably know, this isn’t the first time Marco has gotten himself in hot water in the postmatitz era. Because remember all the stuff he said about Czecho a couple of years ago, saying the issues he was having was to do with his cultural heritage, you know, with him being a Mexican but then calling him South American completely getting his continents wrong and suggesting that because he is Mexican or South American, he’s less focused than Vstappen, which has turned out to be complete and utter bulldogy. And it makes me really funny when I saw that meme of Czecho and Thanos and then Czecho quote tweeted that and said perhaps that might be accurate saying that maybe we were all too harsh on him. Oh, he is loving this. Then you got the Horner investigation last year where Marco was reported to be under internal scrutiny himself for leaking out certain parts to the media. You can maybe see why the new corporate order might decide that they’ve had enough fireworks from Marco and that he is just a complete and utter liability. And reports also suggest the Thai side of Red Bull is more aligned with Minsloff’s desire for a global brand polish approach. So with both sides of agreement, the old guard has simply no protection left. So put simply, you could argue that Horner and Marco, well, they were doomed. So if you line up the last few years, you get a very coherent picture as to where the trend of Red Bull was going. You needed somebody like Dietrik Matitz on board to keep that Cavalere spirit going. Without him there, there was a power vacuum. Horner did his best to try and take many of the reigns, but Oliver Mincoff and his crew were able to get there first and remind Christian that you’re not a shareholder. You’re not a Toto. You’re an employee to us. We can fire you at a moment’s notice when you either cause problems or you don’t deliver. We all thought that Marco had won the day because he had support of Saltzburg. Well, clearly that was a false dawn. Sure, the house that Marco built has generated a remarkable set of talent who have gone on to win championships, but in the latter of years, there have been many things that which have muddied the waters regarding his reputation with the wider world of F1 fans. And for newer fans who only know the last few years with Marco around, he’s not really been seen to do much other than be at the center of repeated PR headaches amidst a changing corporate culture, a far more gentrified and squeaky clean one, and arguably one that is nowhere near as fun. and having a junior program which simply is not a cultural fit anymore. Sure, it’s been effective in the past, but it just doesn’t really suit the modern standards of how young drivers are developed, talking about understanding people and whatnot. And you can argue about whether or not that’s worth keeping or issuing until the cows come home. But the reality is is that Red Bull don’t want that anymore. Or at least, you know, Red Bull Saltsburg, the Red Bull racing team. That’s up for debate. But then you can argue maybe Mecky’s’s influence was involved in all of this too, but we don’t know. But yeah, you got to admit that all of that stuff against Kimmy Anteneelli probably was the final straw. It really that was just too much. So you’re just asking, is he being pushed out of the job or is he being made to retire early? I mean, you got to remember he is 82 years old. And there have been reports about succession plans being put in place that people like Sebastian Fettle and Gearart Burger might be brought in to fill in the breach and being some kind of bastion of the junior program and special advisor role. And while those roles are quite poetic, Burger being one of the co-inspirators of the Tora Russo project, it’s not necessarily going to be the most likely scenario. It’s going to be a bunch of committee members, nameless committee members. So that means they don’t draw too much attention that will make many key decisions as to where Red Bull goes. It’ll be extremely boring, but it’ll be safe. You know, very neutral, very appealing to American sponsors because remember the Oracle deal might be coming to an end, they might be wanting to fill in the gap there. And if you feel that if Red Bull were otherwise happy with how Marco had been behaving, you could picture that maybe instead of keeping him around in his current job, he’d be in more of a ceremonial role, only coming to maybe a few races a year and then the focal one being at the Red Bull ring, maybe focusing just on the junior program and not needing to be in the F1 paddock, but around the junior one. And then you’re all wondering about what this means regarding Max Stapen’s future. The consensus I’ve seen is that this departure of Marco could lead to the Dutchman looking for the exit himself. That nothing the team will or can do next year and beyond will keep him around. But actually, I would disagree. I’d argue that this situation of Helmet Marco either retiring or being fired means less to Max than it would have done had a situation happened back in 2024 when things were really, really volatile and even less than what the car’s performance next year is going to be. That is the most important thing about whether Max stays or leaves the team. How good is next year’s car going to be? Or at the very least, how quickly can this car develop over the course of that season? If it proves to be insufficient, that will be the reason why Max walks. Nothing else. Because we all remember the rumors about there being some kind of clause that if helmet marker is ejected from the team in a way that Max staff and his crew do not like, then Max can leave without any punishment at all. And the fact that Max has not said anything, that he’s staying put right now, that actually he’s been quite supportive and rallying the troops with his radio messages and saying, “Hey, we tried our best. We did really good. Don’t be disappointed with yourself.” Really, really supportive and understanding, comforting even. You feel like maybe Vstappen was okay with whatever decision is being made here because I think Max also has understood that in the wake of her leaving and now Marco leaving, the team will become far less politically volatile and be more about engineering, which I think for Max is perfectly fine for him. And you know what? I’m going to get the spanner out for this one, but I think this could realistically happen is that Max may take on a more involved role with the team based on his experiences with a stapen.com racing and his other squads as well as in sim racing. He is really getting good experience at being a team boss. So, who’s to say that maybe Max may metamorphose into being a team principal in the years to come, as well as doing all of his other stuff regarding endurance racing? Who knows? I just think that Max sees this all as a project that maybe this is something that he can get on board with with Mechy’s a technically minded person and of course Pier Vash refocusing himself and getting a clearer direction for a bigger operating window. And then of course Ford who are going to be bowing at Max’s feet and will do anything he says. Can you imagine that he’ll get that same freedom at Mercedes? I don’t think so. Just as long as they can develop consistently and they don’t have a really terrible car which can’t even get into Q3, then I think Max will stay. Especially for the fact that how Max has been operating in being a lot more understanding and only having one moment of Mad Max in 2025, he’s gained way more fans than he had this time 12 months ago. And going back to Antelli for a moment, you can also see from his handling of that saga with Kimmy that Max is willing to publicly disagree with the old Red Bull attack dog style, positioning himself as some kind of mediator and calmer downer. That lets him stay without looking like he’s betraying a mentor either. And if Red Bull turns out to nail next year’s package after all, then he’ll remain with them through 2028 and maybe more. And hey, Mark’s only a phone call away if you need some advice. So what does it mean for Red Bull as a team? Well, here’s where it gets interesting. Because on the track, as we have seen, they have proven to Max that they can still win races and go for championships without Christian her in the room. Sure, some of his decisions are still being acted out and there are people leaving the fort, but equally, there are other talented junior people moving up to more senior positions and being able to prove themselves and make names for themselves that they can still be successful, that they can regenerate themselves in a matter of weeks. Because this engineeringled operation has been able to make a remarkable turnaround, a three figure turnaround, 104 points down to two from the championship leader in just a matter of three months. That is crazy. So it just makes me think that they will be able to survive without helmet Marco. Certainly a lot better than they would have done had Marco retired 10 years ago or even just like 2 years ago. But then at the same time there is a major philosophical shift which may be quite disruptive because if you lose Marco and you don’t have him have any involvement with the junior team whatsoever you lose a very key barometer. Some of you may think this is an absolute win for all concerned but I think it’s a very um it’s a very conditional win. Red Bull will become certainly less dramaful, but equally its junior program may be completely neutered or certainly at least a little bit more blind or going in different directions and can’t really come to a decision. Put simply, from Red Bull these days, without Marco, you’re not going to get 17year-olds having a chance being taken on them and getting special dispensation for them to race. No, no, no, no, no. And you’ll certainly not be getting any mid-season driver swaps. So for Isaac Hajar at the senior team, oh, he’ll be loving this. And for Liam Lawson hoping to get back up there. Oh, sorry mate. And you’ll certainly get no more punts akin to what the stappen’s pump was like going from F3 to Formula 1 instantly in a few weeks. But then at the same time, you can argue that you won’t be getting careers completely and utterly nuked and you won’t be getting negative momentum from the media like we got with Cenoda this year. But with Mechis’ presence, it has been somewhat calmed down. It’s not a complete removal from the program. It’s just a demotion. But facts still outweigh demotion. but just about enough to keep Yuki involved with Formula 1 somewhat to maybe find sanctuary somewhere else in 2027 because I seriously think that Lan believed in Yuki utterly and completely. He did not need to have Honda in the room to keep Cenoda involved somewhat for his technical input, his experience with the overall program that he’s just a nice guy to be around, you know, to work with the testing team. just keep him somewhat, but at least free up a seat for Isaac to see what he can do now without the spectre of Marco at all. So, if we zoom out, Marco’s own words sound like someone preparing to leave on terms that save face. Credible reporting says that he’s in fact leaving as part of a deliberate clear out of the old power structure. He’ll still be around being a pundit for Austrian TV. He’ll still say very controversial things, but they will most likely be kept to the native region of Austria or they won’t cause nearly as much controversy because people will look to it and go, “Well, you ain’t got a job, mate. You’re just another pundit.” Because simply put, his style of doing things is just not compatible with Red Bull anymore. It was under Matitz, but it isn’t anymore. And that the direction Red Bull wants to take is very clear. They want to be seen as a global force. They want to be polished. They want to look really slick and amiable and approachable. technically led, which is certainly very admirable and is the trend we’re seeing at other teams because look at what Kamatsu has been able to do with Hass in the last two years, taking it from being beyond a joke to now partnering up with Toyota. That is a huge turnaround for the smallest team in Formula 1. If Red Bull can follow the same approach, not only might they have a better chance at keeping Vstappen or at least make him a little bit more understanding regarding struggles with the car, but it maybe be able to attract more sponsors in the wake of maybe old sponsors coming out. New ones may come in, more may come in, maybe Goodwill might start to come back toward them after all. And if Arvid Limblad turns out to be good, the final call from Helmet Marco, which actually stuck, then maybe they might get some goodwill from British fans after all, which is exactly what Christian Horn wanted for himself. But I certainly think the junior program will be compromised a little bit because there are many drivers that want to be part of the Red Bull program to be the one to look Helmet Marco in the eye saying, “I’m better than you think, and I want to prove myself to you. If you can impress Marco, you can impress anyone.” Well, we don’t really have that anymore. So yeah, clearly the era of having a personality in a top job within Formula 1, they’re over now. You’ve got to be an engineer and you got to really keep your mouth shut other than something to do with the car. And yeah, for Max, that’s fine. But it does certainly mean that the old Red Bull is gone now. But again, I don’t think the Stappen’s complaining because he can easily forge it into something that he likes. And something that I think you will like is this video right here because I in YouTube think that you will. So I’ll see you over there.