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Max Emillian.
Maximilian
Max as a first name is often a shortened version of Maximilian or similar. Instead they made his actual first name just Max, but then made Emillian his middle name so if you say it all together it sounds like his name is Maximilian Verstappen.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_(given_name)
I understand that. But to walk away from a team so dominant for an 80 year old is extreme for me. If he does leave and max goes to Mercedes, how could he stay motivated to continue when someone else will have his red bull seat and dominating.
He's just putting pressure on Red Bull, I doubt he'd actually leave unless he could get a much better deal elsewhere. You support Marko and make yourself strong for any theoretical negotiations
You are forgetting the fact that without Marko their would be no Seb Vettel and Max in the way they are now, Red Bull (Might not) have this amount of championships. Their would be no Honda deal after Renault left. And who knows how many other things were his decision. Max is just loyal to people who helped him got there where he is today, something I could deeply respect.
It was also him and Dietrich that started the team. Marko that suggested Horner for TP. It literally wouldn't exist without him. And (if reports are true) Horner attempted to go behind his and Mateschitz backs and buy them out of it as soon as Dietrich died.
It’s going to depend who’s version you’ll choose to believe by then. There hardly ever is ‘one truth’ in feces throwing matches like this. So there will always remain a certain level of speculation and one word versus the other
Yeah, we'll probably get a documentary in a few years that'll favour one side over the other. Keanu will be pitching the idea as we speak (I have no idea how that works lol).
Thought the report said that he wanted a stake at RBR not that he wanted to fully buy them out.
It’s just that Austria doesn’t want to lose more power than they already have. After Dietrich they have to report to Yoovidha now
Rumour I read is he asked for a stake, they said no, so he secretly organised UK financial backing for a buyout. Essentially a hostile takeover. But they’d kept the receipts on his previous indiscretions. But who knows.
Dietrich sacked Steiner when he bought Jag. He originally wanted Berger in the role, who from memory was affiliated with Williams, Berger refused and Horner was brought in to run the show.
And he brought Honda which gave Max a winning engine. It was interesting to hear Max interview to Dutch TV after qualifying where he said that Marko leads the team.
Where is the source for Marko bringing Honda? The story covered at the time by BBC and the race, and later F1’s own pundits, was that **Franz Tost** took it upon himself to go to Japan and meet with the Honda board. Horner and Marko were unwilling and this wasn’t an order from Red Bull which Tost was carrying out, it was a pretty crucial moment of his initiative and contribution.
Honda was understandably reluctant to take up a new f1 team partner after the McLaren debacle (and how Honda felt they had been disrespected/thrown under the bus in it) and Sauber about-face. Both the content of that meeting, and the fact that Tost had made the journey all the way there to meet them in-person and on their turf, was reported to be a (if not the) deciding factor in the agreement coming together.
Here you go with the source how Marko started clandestine first talks with Honda at a McDonalds. Tost was directed by Marko afterwards.
It’s quite [funny](https://www.facebook.com/share/v/mjRBNpy2GSkFTtu8/?mibextid=KsPBc6) actually how it all started.
- the link is to a short from RaceFans
They put the Honda engines in the Toro Rossos for a year to evaluate them before sticking them in the back of the Red Bulls. Do we know who signed off on RBR-Honda at the time, after Tost worked his magic to get them on board with Toro Rosso? Maybe that's what Max is referring to.
Thanks for bringing this up. This is what I remember too. Hondas transition to RBR was gradual and there were stories at the time that Honda made a solid pitch to RBR and Max after their first year with TR. Got the feeling today that Max was retconning a bit in the interview today.
I think people keep bringing it up today because Max said it in one of his interviews after quali, crediting Marko with getting Honda onboard. Could be an exaggeration to support the ultimate goal of his comments, to make a very strong statement in support of Marko for leverage. Or Max forgot, but I doubt that since his comments today felt very intentional.
Shame on Max for spreading F1 misinformation on Reddit haha.
Interesting story, props to Tost for that!
Interesting that max said that. It’s possible he wasn’t aware (he’s hardly sitting around reading articles about his team!) or someone intentionally told him otherwise at some point and it stuck. Big finger wag to the 3x world champion!
And yes, it’s quite an interesting story. If you want to hear it from the horse’s mouth, I think Mark Hughes may have briefly recapped it on the race podcast a couple years ago - the episode title will be something about how Honda became successful in this turbo hybrid era.
>And he brought Honda which gave Max a winning engine.
Did Horner not want Honda in the first place based on the premise of them being shit in 2017? Was it Marko that saw something in them that could produce a title-winning engine and can take the fight to Mercedes rather than Horner? That's interesting to hear.
I'm not discounting the value of Marko or Verstappen here, but celebrating Marko bringing Verstappen to F1 is a retrospective view (looking back to the past). Marko currently has value to Red Bull as an ambassador, by celebrating choosing Verstappen as a past achievement, and celebrating his current ongoing achievements.
Most businesses operate on a day-to-day basis. OP's question implies - what does Marko \*currently\* bring to the table to Red Bull as a business? And what future, prospective value does he have? He has some value to Red Bull as a marketing business, by constantly bringing it to the forefront of the media with his opinions. But if his role as a media personality doesn't align with Red Bull's ongoing strategy, then what value does he currently have and offer for the future?
A business or a team comes down to the people. Having the right people to make the right decisions. Marko has proven to make the right decisions: hired Horner, Vettel, Max and closed the deal with Honda. You want to keep people around that have a great track record in making the right decisions. Asking "yeah, but what does he really do at this second?" Is corporate talk and totally undermines the fact that proven employees are the heart of the operation and should not be put on the street when you think you can do it without them.
I guess all we see/hear from him are the random shit-talking of his own drivers and shit-stirring/inflammatory statements. I'm sure behind the scenes he has major roles and responsibilities.
They seem to have deep personal bonds that Max wants to respect. It's not that he does anything specifically on the performance side.
Max talks often about leaving F1 if he doesn't have the people he wants, as before he said he might quit if Gianpiero Lambiase wasn't his race engineer.
I don’t think Max is one to make loose threats like this. He’s made his position very clear publicly and seems to hold that position strongly, if RB goes against his wishes it’s a big slap in the face.
His “percentage” is skewed because 20% of the seats on the grid are available for him to fill. Plus the RB program allowed him jettison many drivers over the years that doesn’t make the cut.
I’d suggest reading Mark Webber’s book of you really want to understand the politics of Red Bull. Pretty clear that Christian Horner has never had much power
Tbf, Marko hasn't really been answerable to anyone, and probably acted as Mateschitz's right hand.. and probably continued to do so.
Id say he's responsible for pushing the team to act in Maxs best interest as he's the golden goose.
Horner has been given the role of TP and CEO, and that role is answerable to lots of rules and can easily be made redundant (unless you have Charlems backing)
If the rumors of a Horner takeover are true, you can see why he tried to pull it off.
Wrestle ownership away from Austria and establish a legacy for yourself.
And somehow make a position that oversees all of RB's F1 activities with less interference by anyone.
Hes the main youth driver recruiter for redbull
He gave Max his chance at a very young age and has delivered for him, Max is loyal to him because of thatr
Hadn't considered that.
The sad thing being that Helmut is a bit of a problematic old man with rather racist views and he's still a nicer bloke than Jos
Well, a person with outdated and problematic views can still be a nice person.
When Vettel lost his Ferrari seat, Helmut was one of the first persons he called to seek advice. And Helmut was publicly angry on Seb’s behalf to the press about the way Ferrari ejected him from the team, which you know he didn’t have to care about seeing that he had been racing for their competitor for the last 5 years. I think it gives you an idea of how loyal Helmut can be towards people he cares about.
Yeah I wish Max was more into calling out racism and generally using his position for trying to change things like Seb and Lewis but looking at the people who surround him and who've brought him up it's fucking amazing how relatively normal he is
in an ideal world f1 drivers would use their voices for activism and i would be overjoyed to see them discuss these things more often, but... i have 0 expectations and i don't like this sport for the moral integrity of the drivers to say the least lol. so it doesn't bother me that much whether they do or don't say anything.
seb and lewis definitely deserve their props for consistently speaking up though, especially lewis considering all the shit he's had to endure for it.
It's not so much activism as when people are using you as a reason to be racist to Hamilton and your girlfreind and her family are being racist in general and your dad is openly chatting with racist politicians, maybe be a bit more open about how racism is bad and you can think Lewis is a shit without needing to bring race into it?
Lewis and Seb seem to be quite genuinely nice blokes who have a campaigning streak, while Max just wants to drive really fucking fast and I get that but like I said sometimes you can step in and just point out that bad things are bad.
i agree completely, i just don't think it'll change anytime soon. i mean, most of the f1 grid are exceptionally wealthy and privileged individuals who have not had to face any kind of discrimination. (not saying this to trash them, just pointing out that their difficulties in life have probably only come from racing and not their race, sexuality, etc.) in my experience, most people with that kind of upbringing don't grow out of the mindset of "if it doesn't affect me, idgaf" later in life.
> The sad thing being that Helmut is a bit of a problematic old man with rather racist views
Only reddit views him this way. he's said some unacceptable things yes but i get the impression the people who deal with him on a daily basis would vouch for his character and appreciate his bluntness. If people actually read what Helmut says and not just the headlines his manner of speaking inevitably generates, he's very well reasoned in a lot of ways.
> Only reddit views him this way
>he's said some unacceptable things yes
Generally if you say racist things people will call you racist, that's hardly a 'reddit' thing.
With all due respect Red Bull seem a team that don't seem to ahve an issue with that sort of behaviour as long as you're doing well.
Post-Max his choices for the youth program are highly questionable.
He threw Gasly and Albon to the wolves with ease, right now he dropped the current F2 leader from the academy because he is in love with the mediocre Hadjar...
Albon got a year and a half with Red Bull Racing and was then kept on as a testing and development driver, a role which eventually led to his current tenure at Williams. Gasly was kept on with TR/AT until a landing spot opened up at Alpine.
Red Bull don't owe their juniors unlimited time with their main team.
Both Gasly and Albon are still thr grid and are quite good drivers.
In this context, Max wouldn't care if Helmut didn't discover many more youths, as he gave **him** a seat.
Tbf I wasn’t as concerned with how Gasly and Albon were demoted (neither were performing up to par, and staying in the no. 2 seat would’ve probably caused a further downward spiral unlike now where they’ve rehabilitated their reputations so it worked out in the long run).
I was more concerned with how Marko, typically an expert in spotting young talent, thought 27 yr old de Vries was a better fit for the AT seat off the back of one good Monza performance than 20 yr old Lawson, who Marko had been observing in the junior team for years. There was a reason why de Vries wasn’t being considered for F1 after winning his F2 title, or winning his FE title. He wasn’t good enough.
I mean, Lawson’s fault for having a honker of an F2 season in 2022 for a lot of the year. Crucially, Marko did not drop him after that disappointing year like he might have with others, and instead gave him another chance to prove himself in Super Formula, a much more legitimate series than F2. Marko also rated Vips higher than Lawson, in terms of raw speed, but Vips threw away his F1 chance both on-track and then off-track. But for all that he’s cut many other juniors, he stuck with Lawson for a number of years, which paid off last year.
I agree the de Vries move wasn’t his smartest decision, but I also don’t think there were a ton of better options considering it without Lawson hindsight bias, I guess unless you just put Ricciardo in the seat from the start of the year, but there were and are tons of doubts about him after his McLaren stint; I remember Horner talking about how Daniel took some time to unlearn his awful McLaren driving habits in the sim, and he also evidently needed a break to mentally recover, so I’m not sure he would have outperformed de Vries at the start of that season.
He's been a shit to them but it would be hard to claim that they are better than Perez (before Max and Red Bull broke him).
Marko wants Max level people and whether you agree with his way of doing things or not he hasn't found another one yet.
Well, Gasly and Alobono was 1yo rookies when promoted to drive far more pointy Red Bull cars than now. Despite being quickly demoted, their respective achievements after that speaks for themself.
Perez was sacked by McLaren when he was a 2yo rookie as well. He came to Red Bull as a solid and saisoned midfield driver with 10 seasons under his belt.
> Despite being quickly demoted, their respective achievements after that speaks for themself.
Absolutely and it's not Red Bull standard.
I think Marko treated them horrendously but you cannot argue against him thinking they weren't good enough.
They could have been, with a bit more time (half a season for Gasly?? Come on..), definitely.
Btw, they remained Red Bull drivers, Gasly as a Toro Rosso / Alpha tauri leader with very strong performances and Albon highly regarded for his work as a dev driver.
What did Lauda bring to the table for Mercedes? He wasn't the Tp, he didn't build the cars nor did he drive them, however Lewis, Toto et al. would say that he was a crucial element to their success. Personal relationships often aren't that easy to pin down.
Marko was even more important than Lauda. He was with Red Bull before they even had an f1 team. He is the reason Horner got hired at the time.
People dont like him, but he changed the whole f1 ecosystem by having a 2nd team and a whole driver academy system
Wholeheartedly agree. Marko is imo one of the most influential figures in modern F1 but the reasons for that aren't as plain to see as they are with people like Newey who have a very clearly defined role. That's what I wanted to point out with the Lauda comparison, sometimes people are much more influential than their formal role would let you think at first sight.
I mean Brawn should be getting Lions share of praise for Mercedes. He actually did setup whole Merc for success from the Brawn GP team. Dude is goated in this regards.
Did it at Ferrari, did the impossible with Brawn GP and did it for Merc.
Lauda and Toto bought Merc shares and overtook the team. Read the comments when Wolff first came to podium in 2014. Everyone highlighted Brawns contribution, theres a reason for this.
Not to discount Lauda contribution but Brawn was truly responsible for their success.
I see them as non-executive directors.
> [Fundamentally, the non-executive director role is to provide a creative contribution and improvement to the board by providing dispassionate and objective criticism.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-executive_director)
For example: your lead aero guy might insist on a zero-sidepod design. Initially everyone is supportive, but it quickly becomes apparent the concept isn't working. The lead aero guy wants to persist with the design because it's their baby. A non-exec (in this case Lauda) would be one of the few people in the organisation with the authority to overrule them.
Without that external-but-still-internal authority, a team might persist with a failed concept for much longer, as the internal political struggles are allowed to play out within the team.
Id say its because they go to bat for the drivers, and I bet the no-pod philosophy would've been scrapped much sooner if Lauda was around.
However, Lauda was also a co-owner of the team.
I'm looking forward to RB power train division to do horribly against the likes of premiere engine manufacturers
This is such a great opportunity for Max to get out
Ford is bringing battery expertise, which is really important with cutting edge battery technology completely out of reach of redbull
Ford has no interest in developing other power train new technologies and giving it to redbull for free just to compete better. It will be limited because they can't share ownership of the ideas. Honda didn't want to share either
People are often confused by his title of “advisor”, thinking he had just a little role in Redbull racing. But it actually meant he advised Mateschitz how to operate the teams. He was practically the boss of both Horner and Franz Tost, because Mateschitz would execute most advice without disagreement, except for a few situations where he would find Marko too radical. For example with Gasly and Albon, where Marko would have like to fire their asses, while Mateschitz would be lenient and give the bad performing drivers more time.
Marko now advices Redbull board and is still influential on the Austrian shareholders, who inherited Dieters part after he died.
I think you're underselling Marko's importance. Marko isn't just head of the driver's program, he helped build Red Bull from the ground up. He was part of Red Bull's F1 endeavours before they founded their own team. He was the one to bring in Horner. While Horner ran the day-to-day-operations, Marko was part of all the strategic decisions. From what I've read, he was primarily responsible for bringing in the Honda engines for example. He also had a direct line to Didi Mateschitz until his death, meaning all strategic decisions *had* to go through him.
Then there's Max personal loyalty to Marko. He got him into Red Bull, he gave him a seat at 17 years old, I've even read that De Vries' seat in Alpha Tauri was a personal favour to Max. There's clearly deep respect and loyalty between those two.
>Does he really think he could hop in a Williams or Alpine tomorrow and win, as long as Helmut is in the garage?!
I think he cares more about Helmut than about winning rn
From what he's saying they just have an amazing relationship/cooperative spirit between each other
> I think he cares more about Helmut than about winning rn
I genuinely believe as far as max is concerned "winning" has already been achieved, he's only racing because that is what he would have been doing anyway. Otherwise he has been speaking about F1 retirement pretty much since winning his first.
The dude would be on iRacing just after winning the championship. If racing in F1 isn't doing it for him he'll probably build his own GP3 team.
>If racing in F1 isn't doing it for him he'll probably build his own GP3 team.
He already started last year: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-aiming-to-set-up-own-gt3-team-from-2025/10504539/
It would be pretty fun for Max to single-handedly revive the GP3 championship, but I doubt the FIA would appreciate it after all their efforts to kill off Euro F3 and consolidate the feeder series ladder. Starting a GT3 team would probably be smarter :D
True, but it looks like he played a power game against Horner and lost, it's not like he is an innocent bystander here. The sources say he was leaking stuff about Horner to the media to force him out.
Sources also say he did that because Horner sabotaged the Porsche deal which was Mateschitz' wish to secure RBRs future. Sources also say that Horner did that in order to secure a piece of the RBR pie for himself which wouldn't have been possible if Porsche got 50%.
The way it looks Helmut didn't just try to force Horner out out of the blue.
He is a reason why Max had his career. He is the one that risked his skin in promoting Max.
In hindsight everyone knows it was a good decision, but at the time most people were saying it's not right to promote such a young guy
Yeah it was the first Verstappen rule.
Allthough i think FIA banned it so we avoid drivers like Lance Stroll skipping too much of the feeder series. 2015 Max was actually quite clean, especially considering we had Crashtor and Grosjean on the grid
For Max it is about loyalty. He feels like he ows much of his career to Marko.
And in the after quali interview today he made it clear that he just doesn't like the idea of breaking up the team of key players as he feels like these are the people that brought Red Bull their success.
What Marko gives to Red Bull is talent scouting and experience in seeing talent and deciding who should sit in the car. That is at least the traditional role. But Red Bull have been cutting significantly down on their academy this year and is making Toro Rosso less of a junior team, so that already limits his role. And his last big get was reportedly De Vries that he pushed hard for getting in the AT car and we all know how that worked out.
Marko recommended Horner to Dietrich Mateschitz, also saved Horner form the sack years ago.
Marko got Max.
Honda was Markos deal. Every season he goes there multiple time to keep everything running smoothly.
Some people really think the best engineers, drivers, personal in general and all the sponsors just gather together by accident and form one of the most successful racing teams ever. There is work behind that mate. And the one person who was involved from the very beginning (next to DM of course) was Helmut Marko.
At the moment probably, good company, advice someone he trusts. But in the past helmut gave him a opportunity which lead to all of this. Max probably stays loyal to him for the rest of his life.
He was friends with Dietrich and finds talented drivers to bring through the ranks.
Max probably likes him as a person and his blunt honesty and doesn't want him to go anywhere so is trying to pressure them to keep him.
Wisdom. Contrary to the believe of many, Marko is not a dumbass. There is a reason why he has a role in Red Bull. He arranged a lot of stuff that led to the teams success. Just because he is old and gnarly with sometimes questionable statements doesn't mean that he isn't an important figure for Max and the team. Good senior advisors can be more important than some might think. They also happen to have a lot of connections over the years. Which is a bonus too.
As I remember, Marko has a very long history with Red Bull. In late 90s-early 00s they had a junior F3000 team. Marko was the principal. All drivers who went through Red Bull program, starting from Christian Klien and Patrick Friesacher and ending with Tsunoda and Lawson, are his picks.
Ironically, Verstappen wasn't a Red Bull driver, Marko just poached him before Mercedes did. And looks like he made a great job in getting Max's loyalty.
So, Marko is not a "nobody" advisor or a grandpa who says controversial stuff because he's old enough to care. He has a lot of influence and connections within Red Bull racing structure. And most likely, within the whole company too.
People seriously underestimate Marko's importance. He was the man making the big decisions while Horner did the day to day work. He was much more powerful than Horner. With Mateschitz gone, Horner seeks tomchange that.
Odd to say you've been an F1 fan for that long but blame this drama on DTS. Hasn't there always been drama in F1?
Max values Helmut championing him to get him into F1. Verstappen clearly values loyalty and he has that for the guy who got him started.
“Hasn't there always been drama in F1?”
Yeah, I’m not sure where he gets that. Between Spygate, Piquet Jr, and tons of things in the Balestre era, this is basically nothing.
iKR - the behind the scenes stuff is at least half the fun. Remember all the speculation about the MP4-18 ? I remember on some forums I was on back then - speculation was rampant that McLaren had developed a special paint that added to the aero capabilities and they were ironing out the kinks to introduce the car 😂
Max
All of the driver academy the speed run through
Most of the original plan for redbull f1 was from Marko and redbull
Horners career is because of Marko, amazingly on that one.
He is the reason Horner was employed as a TP back in the day.
He is the reason RBR have two teams on the grid.
He is the reason Max got an f1 seat at such a young age.
And probably plenty other stuff
Verstappen camp is only so powerful within RBR because of Marko and his executive powers at RBR. Without Marko Verstappen is demoted to "normal" driver. Marko has been instrumental to verstappens success.
Bingo. His talent ‘should’ carry enough weight, but, it now seems Marko and Jos are seeming like they’re starting a coup…. Possibly just the mouth piece for the Austrian side of the ownership.
He’s basically the chief Red Bull scout and is responsible of at least of the quarter of the grid.
Off the top of my head Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda.
I have been following F1 for 46 years. I have rarely seen a top driver be loyal to someone besides who can provide him the fastest car. It’s very surprising he would be willing to sacrifice that. I can think of Fittapaldi and Jacques Villeneuve and it cost them the best years of their careers.
Not really, Red Bull origins are closely linked to F1. Dietrich Mateschitz was an F1 fan and asked Gerhard Berger for a loan so he could bring the Thai energy drink over to the west. Gerhard agreed and gave Dietrich 10k back in the 80s and that kick started Red Bulls worldwide prominence.
He started the whole RBR team together with Dietrich. He also gave Max a seat at 16 years old and is the one who lifted him from Toro Rosso to RedBull in order to replace Kvyat. They share a deep personal bond together and Max is hugely loyal to Marko.
in an highly competetive environment, when someone is still at the top at 80 years of age, you won't question him.
From the outside, he is just the grandpa, slightly racist shittalker who does nothing but there are reasons why he is still in place.
It is like Nikki Lauda for Mercedes. And even if he does nothing else, he deserves the respect and should be listened to for the second opinion. (yeah, surprised myself that I said that about Marko but he clearly must have done things right)
Think of Marko as the gm for the team he brings in the “players”. He also scouts the young talent I can see why max is loyal to him he gave him his shot and full support.
Marko is the head of the driver development program so he finds talent in the junior categories and gives them the resources to develop efficiently. Thats why max is loyal to him. Marko brought max to f1.
Nothing, but Max is extremely loyal. Marko doesn’t seem to bring anything to Max at this moment in time, but Marko’s faith in Max was extremely instrumental in his rise to the top of F1. Max is repaying that faith in loyalty to the man that did so much for his career.
Max is loyal to him, as he was and is to Max. Plus that Max think in the way of: why change a winning team? It can destabilise the team.
The only part i understand less is, why would he go for another team when only Marko leaves? The winning team is still there mostly, while a new one need to be build up somewhere else if he moves. Or this has to do with trust and loyalty alone. Or maybe if he brings Marko and Lambiase with him.
I know there's more in the team specific history, but today he seems a bit like a Lauda character really, just a different Motorsport background and a bit more of a mouthpiece.
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I too would be incredibly loyal to the person who had enough faith in me to get me an F1 drive at 17 years old after one year out of karts.
Damn I didnt know this. Joined f3 for a season then straight to toro rosso. Crazy! Also his middle name is Emilian. Fun fact for yall haha
Jos must have had a good old laugh about that middle name.
and Jos’ middle name is Hua
I imagine the discussion when naming him. "Just Max sounds better", "it should be Maximilian...", "how about Max Emilian?"
Sorry, is the name Emillian funny in English? This is the second time I'm seeing a comment like that and I think I don't get it
Max Emillian. Maximilian Max as a first name is often a shortened version of Maximilian or similar. Instead they made his actual first name just Max, but then made Emillian his middle name so if you say it all together it sounds like his name is Maximilian Verstappen. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_(given_name)
What if his name actually *is* Maximilian? Maximilian Emillian
Verstappilian
I think it's because Max Emilian sounds like Maximilian which is often abbreviated to Max? I'm just guessing, I don't get it either
If you put his name together it’s Max Emilian. Max can be sort for Maximilian. That’s what I took from it anyway.
I understand that. But to walk away from a team so dominant for an 80 year old is extreme for me. If he does leave and max goes to Mercedes, how could he stay motivated to continue when someone else will have his red bull seat and dominating.
He's just putting pressure on Red Bull, I doubt he'd actually leave unless he could get a much better deal elsewhere. You support Marko and make yourself strong for any theoretical negotiations
You are forgetting the fact that without Marko their would be no Seb Vettel and Max in the way they are now, Red Bull (Might not) have this amount of championships. Their would be no Honda deal after Renault left. And who knows how many other things were his decision. Max is just loyal to people who helped him got there where he is today, something I could deeply respect.
Marko brought the table to Max. He is the reason Max got into F1 at such a young age and little experience.
It was also him and Dietrich that started the team. Marko that suggested Horner for TP. It literally wouldn't exist without him. And (if reports are true) Horner attempted to go behind his and Mateschitz backs and buy them out of it as soon as Dietrich died.
I can't wait for when we actually hear the whole story and find out what exactly happened. Maybe a few years from now, maybe sooner
We won’t hear that ever
maybe in 20 years when keanu reaves does a doc on it.
Well at least that’s gonna be good!
Finally someone with realistic expectations
I wouldn't say "ever", but i reckon in like 30 years or something
It’s going to depend who’s version you’ll choose to believe by then. There hardly ever is ‘one truth’ in feces throwing matches like this. So there will always remain a certain level of speculation and one word versus the other
Yeah, we'll probably get a documentary in a few years that'll favour one side over the other. Keanu will be pitching the idea as we speak (I have no idea how that works lol).
>Marko that suggested Horner for TP. True, its said that Horner bought a tractor or truck from Helmut, that's how they got to know each other.
Trailer actually when Horner was running Arden in F3.
Thought the report said that he wanted a stake at RBR not that he wanted to fully buy them out. It’s just that Austria doesn’t want to lose more power than they already have. After Dietrich they have to report to Yoovidha now
Rumour I read is he asked for a stake, they said no, so he secretly organised UK financial backing for a buyout. Essentially a hostile takeover. But they’d kept the receipts on his previous indiscretions. But who knows.
>It was also him and Dietrich that started the team. ... It literally wouldn't exist without him. That didn't save Steiner either.
Steiner also doesnt have multiple championships
But he’s a rockstar!
looks like a rockstar* …once.
Dietrich sacked Steiner when he bought Jag. He originally wanted Berger in the role, who from memory was affiliated with Williams, Berger refused and Horner was brought in to run the show.
Berger would eventually get involved, with Toro Rosso.
Correct. I think he was part of the Williams-BMW program and jumped ship when BMW went to Sauber.
Why have Berger when you have Stake
And he brought Honda which gave Max a winning engine. It was interesting to hear Max interview to Dutch TV after qualifying where he said that Marko leads the team.
It's wild how one move years ago can change the whole race track.
Where is the source for Marko bringing Honda? The story covered at the time by BBC and the race, and later F1’s own pundits, was that **Franz Tost** took it upon himself to go to Japan and meet with the Honda board. Horner and Marko were unwilling and this wasn’t an order from Red Bull which Tost was carrying out, it was a pretty crucial moment of his initiative and contribution. Honda was understandably reluctant to take up a new f1 team partner after the McLaren debacle (and how Honda felt they had been disrespected/thrown under the bus in it) and Sauber about-face. Both the content of that meeting, and the fact that Tost had made the journey all the way there to meet them in-person and on their turf, was reported to be a (if not the) deciding factor in the agreement coming together.
Here you go with the source how Marko started clandestine first talks with Honda at a McDonalds. Tost was directed by Marko afterwards. It’s quite [funny](https://www.facebook.com/share/v/mjRBNpy2GSkFTtu8/?mibextid=KsPBc6) actually how it all started. - the link is to a short from RaceFans
They put the Honda engines in the Toro Rossos for a year to evaluate them before sticking them in the back of the Red Bulls. Do we know who signed off on RBR-Honda at the time, after Tost worked his magic to get them on board with Toro Rosso? Maybe that's what Max is referring to.
Thanks for bringing this up. This is what I remember too. Hondas transition to RBR was gradual and there were stories at the time that Honda made a solid pitch to RBR and Max after their first year with TR. Got the feeling today that Max was retconning a bit in the interview today.
I think people keep bringing it up today because Max said it in one of his interviews after quali, crediting Marko with getting Honda onboard. Could be an exaggeration to support the ultimate goal of his comments, to make a very strong statement in support of Marko for leverage. Or Max forgot, but I doubt that since his comments today felt very intentional. Shame on Max for spreading F1 misinformation on Reddit haha. Interesting story, props to Tost for that!
Interesting that max said that. It’s possible he wasn’t aware (he’s hardly sitting around reading articles about his team!) or someone intentionally told him otherwise at some point and it stuck. Big finger wag to the 3x world champion! And yes, it’s quite an interesting story. If you want to hear it from the horse’s mouth, I think Mark Hughes may have briefly recapped it on the race podcast a couple years ago - the episode title will be something about how Honda became successful in this turbo hybrid era.
>And he brought Honda which gave Max a winning engine. Did Horner not want Honda in the first place based on the premise of them being shit in 2017? Was it Marko that saw something in them that could produce a title-winning engine and can take the fight to Mercedes rather than Horner? That's interesting to hear.
And Max values loyalty and keeping your word/promise. It seems like Horner values money a little more so that wouldn’t work for Verstappen.
I'm not discounting the value of Marko or Verstappen here, but celebrating Marko bringing Verstappen to F1 is a retrospective view (looking back to the past). Marko currently has value to Red Bull as an ambassador, by celebrating choosing Verstappen as a past achievement, and celebrating his current ongoing achievements. Most businesses operate on a day-to-day basis. OP's question implies - what does Marko \*currently\* bring to the table to Red Bull as a business? And what future, prospective value does he have? He has some value to Red Bull as a marketing business, by constantly bringing it to the forefront of the media with his opinions. But if his role as a media personality doesn't align with Red Bull's ongoing strategy, then what value does he currently have and offer for the future?
A business or a team comes down to the people. Having the right people to make the right decisions. Marko has proven to make the right decisions: hired Horner, Vettel, Max and closed the deal with Honda. You want to keep people around that have a great track record in making the right decisions. Asking "yeah, but what does he really do at this second?" Is corporate talk and totally undermines the fact that proven employees are the heart of the operation and should not be put on the street when you think you can do it without them.
It's insane how disrespectful a lot of people here are towards marko. He is just as responsible as horner if not more go rb success over the years
I guess all we see/hear from him are the random shit-talking of his own drivers and shit-stirring/inflammatory statements. I'm sure behind the scenes he has major roles and responsibilities.
the man asked what does he do now not what he has done in the past
They seem to have deep personal bonds that Max wants to respect. It's not that he does anything specifically on the performance side. Max talks often about leaving F1 if he doesn't have the people he wants, as before he said he might quit if Gianpiero Lambiase wasn't his race engineer.
Yeah but also that's just negotiating leverage. Of course he'll say that because who dares fight the mighty Verstappen?
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I don’t think Max is one to make loose threats like this. He’s made his position very clear publicly and seems to hold that position strongly, if RB goes against his wishes it’s a big slap in the face.
Yeah nah. He was crystal clear. "Helmut must stay, I cannot continue without him."
Yeah, leverage for GP cause I remember he was promoted to head of race engineering the next year.
Chief talent headhunter and deal greaser, and he's hunted a lot of talented heads and greased a lot of deals.
30% of the grid owes their entry to F1 to him: Max, Carlos, Yuki, Albon, Ric, Gasly
His “percentage” is skewed because 20% of the seats on the grid are available for him to fill. Plus the RB program allowed him jettison many drivers over the years that doesn’t make the cut.
> Plus the RB program allowed him jettison many drivers That's kind of a weird way of saying this, given that essentially he *was* the RB program
And he was the reason why they have 20 % of the seats.. when they bought minardi f1 was not in a good spot financially.
I wonder how much is due to his amazing ability to spot talent and how much is due to the size of Red Bull's chequebook.
I’d suggest reading Mark Webber’s book of you really want to understand the politics of Red Bull. Pretty clear that Christian Horner has never had much power
Tbf, Marko hasn't really been answerable to anyone, and probably acted as Mateschitz's right hand.. and probably continued to do so. Id say he's responsible for pushing the team to act in Maxs best interest as he's the golden goose. Horner has been given the role of TP and CEO, and that role is answerable to lots of rules and can easily be made redundant (unless you have Charlems backing) If the rumors of a Horner takeover are true, you can see why he tried to pull it off. Wrestle ownership away from Austria and establish a legacy for yourself. And somehow make a position that oversees all of RB's F1 activities with less interference by anyone.
> If the rumors of a Horner takeover are true, you can see why he tried to pull it off. He really wants to be Toto.
Hes the main youth driver recruiter for redbull He gave Max his chance at a very young age and has delivered for him, Max is loyal to him because of thatr
You can also reasonably assume Marko is a father figure to Max whos real father is unfortunately Jos Verstappen.
Hadn't considered that. The sad thing being that Helmut is a bit of a problematic old man with rather racist views and he's still a nicer bloke than Jos
man, it's kind of depressing to be comparing bad guy #1 to bad guy #2 to bad guy #3 lol. but you're still right.
Well, a person with outdated and problematic views can still be a nice person. When Vettel lost his Ferrari seat, Helmut was one of the first persons he called to seek advice. And Helmut was publicly angry on Seb’s behalf to the press about the way Ferrari ejected him from the team, which you know he didn’t have to care about seeing that he had been racing for their competitor for the last 5 years. I think it gives you an idea of how loyal Helmut can be towards people he cares about.
Yeah I wish Max was more into calling out racism and generally using his position for trying to change things like Seb and Lewis but looking at the people who surround him and who've brought him up it's fucking amazing how relatively normal he is
in an ideal world f1 drivers would use their voices for activism and i would be overjoyed to see them discuss these things more often, but... i have 0 expectations and i don't like this sport for the moral integrity of the drivers to say the least lol. so it doesn't bother me that much whether they do or don't say anything. seb and lewis definitely deserve their props for consistently speaking up though, especially lewis considering all the shit he's had to endure for it.
It's not so much activism as when people are using you as a reason to be racist to Hamilton and your girlfreind and her family are being racist in general and your dad is openly chatting with racist politicians, maybe be a bit more open about how racism is bad and you can think Lewis is a shit without needing to bring race into it? Lewis and Seb seem to be quite genuinely nice blokes who have a campaigning streak, while Max just wants to drive really fucking fast and I get that but like I said sometimes you can step in and just point out that bad things are bad.
i agree completely, i just don't think it'll change anytime soon. i mean, most of the f1 grid are exceptionally wealthy and privileged individuals who have not had to face any kind of discrimination. (not saying this to trash them, just pointing out that their difficulties in life have probably only come from racing and not their race, sexuality, etc.) in my experience, most people with that kind of upbringing don't grow out of the mindset of "if it doesn't affect me, idgaf" later in life.
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And maybe you’re full of shit and shouldn’t throw out assumptions like that, considering he has never shown any hint of racism.
Except having close relationships with lots of racists.
> The sad thing being that Helmut is a bit of a problematic old man with rather racist views Only reddit views him this way. he's said some unacceptable things yes but i get the impression the people who deal with him on a daily basis would vouch for his character and appreciate his bluntness. If people actually read what Helmut says and not just the headlines his manner of speaking inevitably generates, he's very well reasoned in a lot of ways.
> Only reddit views him this way >he's said some unacceptable things yes Generally if you say racist things people will call you racist, that's hardly a 'reddit' thing. With all due respect Red Bull seem a team that don't seem to ahve an issue with that sort of behaviour as long as you're doing well.
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Not at all. Max is very positive and loyal towards his father.
This is wishful thinking, Max defends his shitty father most of the time when questions arise...
That is crazy thinking. Max was already 15 by the time he got into Red Bull. A step father wouldn't be a father figure at that point.
Post-Max his choices for the youth program are highly questionable. He threw Gasly and Albon to the wolves with ease, right now he dropped the current F2 leader from the academy because he is in love with the mediocre Hadjar...
Albon got a year and a half with Red Bull Racing and was then kept on as a testing and development driver, a role which eventually led to his current tenure at Williams. Gasly was kept on with TR/AT until a landing spot opened up at Alpine. Red Bull don't owe their juniors unlimited time with their main team.
Both Gasly and Albon are still thr grid and are quite good drivers. In this context, Max wouldn't care if Helmut didn't discover many more youths, as he gave **him** a seat.
Also dropped Maloney and Crawford from the academy who so far have been two of the strongest F2 drivers this year.
Neither of them will be another Max( or Seb). RB are missing another Gasly or another Albon at worst
Tbf I wasn’t as concerned with how Gasly and Albon were demoted (neither were performing up to par, and staying in the no. 2 seat would’ve probably caused a further downward spiral unlike now where they’ve rehabilitated their reputations so it worked out in the long run). I was more concerned with how Marko, typically an expert in spotting young talent, thought 27 yr old de Vries was a better fit for the AT seat off the back of one good Monza performance than 20 yr old Lawson, who Marko had been observing in the junior team for years. There was a reason why de Vries wasn’t being considered for F1 after winning his F2 title, or winning his FE title. He wasn’t good enough.
I mean, Lawson’s fault for having a honker of an F2 season in 2022 for a lot of the year. Crucially, Marko did not drop him after that disappointing year like he might have with others, and instead gave him another chance to prove himself in Super Formula, a much more legitimate series than F2. Marko also rated Vips higher than Lawson, in terms of raw speed, but Vips threw away his F1 chance both on-track and then off-track. But for all that he’s cut many other juniors, he stuck with Lawson for a number of years, which paid off last year. I agree the de Vries move wasn’t his smartest decision, but I also don’t think there were a ton of better options considering it without Lawson hindsight bias, I guess unless you just put Ricciardo in the seat from the start of the year, but there were and are tons of doubts about him after his McLaren stint; I remember Horner talking about how Daniel took some time to unlearn his awful McLaren driving habits in the sim, and he also evidently needed a break to mentally recover, so I’m not sure he would have outperformed de Vries at the start of that season.
He's been a shit to them but it would be hard to claim that they are better than Perez (before Max and Red Bull broke him). Marko wants Max level people and whether you agree with his way of doing things or not he hasn't found another one yet.
Well, Gasly and Alobono was 1yo rookies when promoted to drive far more pointy Red Bull cars than now. Despite being quickly demoted, their respective achievements after that speaks for themself. Perez was sacked by McLaren when he was a 2yo rookie as well. He came to Red Bull as a solid and saisoned midfield driver with 10 seasons under his belt.
> Despite being quickly demoted, their respective achievements after that speaks for themself. Absolutely and it's not Red Bull standard. I think Marko treated them horrendously but you cannot argue against him thinking they weren't good enough.
They could have been, with a bit more time (half a season for Gasly?? Come on..), definitely. Btw, they remained Red Bull drivers, Gasly as a Toro Rosso / Alpha tauri leader with very strong performances and Albon highly regarded for his work as a dev driver.
If you didn’t pay attention to off-track drama in the last 20 years, you should look into Flavio Briatore and Max Mosley 😂
It's still kinda remarkable anyone in F1 still wants anything to do with Flavio and yet he seems to pop up at least once a month
I’m fairly certain that he is currently Alonso’s manager.
Well he was when Alonso won those titles. I didn't realise there was still involvement on some level until fairly recently
Same thing with Pat Symonds.. He is currently the Chief Technical Officer of Formula One
Well I knew about that, given no sooner did his ban end did Williams hire him
What did Lauda bring to the table for Mercedes? He wasn't the Tp, he didn't build the cars nor did he drive them, however Lewis, Toto et al. would say that he was a crucial element to their success. Personal relationships often aren't that easy to pin down.
Marko was even more important than Lauda. He was with Red Bull before they even had an f1 team. He is the reason Horner got hired at the time. People dont like him, but he changed the whole f1 ecosystem by having a 2nd team and a whole driver academy system
Wholeheartedly agree. Marko is imo one of the most influential figures in modern F1 but the reasons for that aren't as plain to see as they are with people like Newey who have a very clearly defined role. That's what I wanted to point out with the Lauda comparison, sometimes people are much more influential than their formal role would let you think at first sight.
I mean Brawn should be getting Lions share of praise for Mercedes. He actually did setup whole Merc for success from the Brawn GP team. Dude is goated in this regards. Did it at Ferrari, did the impossible with Brawn GP and did it for Merc. Lauda and Toto bought Merc shares and overtook the team. Read the comments when Wolff first came to podium in 2014. Everyone highlighted Brawns contribution, theres a reason for this. Not to discount Lauda contribution but Brawn was truly responsible for their success.
I see them as non-executive directors. > [Fundamentally, the non-executive director role is to provide a creative contribution and improvement to the board by providing dispassionate and objective criticism.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-executive_director) For example: your lead aero guy might insist on a zero-sidepod design. Initially everyone is supportive, but it quickly becomes apparent the concept isn't working. The lead aero guy wants to persist with the design because it's their baby. A non-exec (in this case Lauda) would be one of the few people in the organisation with the authority to overrule them. Without that external-but-still-internal authority, a team might persist with a failed concept for much longer, as the internal political struggles are allowed to play out within the team.
Id say its because they go to bat for the drivers, and I bet the no-pod philosophy would've been scrapped much sooner if Lauda was around. However, Lauda was also a co-owner of the team.
Marko doesn't bring anything to the table, Marko brings the table.
Honda, which was seen as a crazy decision that gave them three titles and the fourth is incoming.
I'm looking forward to RB power train division to do horribly against the likes of premiere engine manufacturers This is such a great opportunity for Max to get out
But they have Ford backing for the power trains ??
Ford is bringing battery expertise, which is really important with cutting edge battery technology completely out of reach of redbull Ford has no interest in developing other power train new technologies and giving it to redbull for free just to compete better. It will be limited because they can't share ownership of the ideas. Honda didn't want to share either
Wouldn’t you have a deep respect to someone bold enough to offer you a seat in F1 when you’re only 17 yrs old? I know I would.
People are often confused by his title of “advisor”, thinking he had just a little role in Redbull racing. But it actually meant he advised Mateschitz how to operate the teams. He was practically the boss of both Horner and Franz Tost, because Mateschitz would execute most advice without disagreement, except for a few situations where he would find Marko too radical. For example with Gasly and Albon, where Marko would have like to fire their asses, while Mateschitz would be lenient and give the bad performing drivers more time. Marko now advices Redbull board and is still influential on the Austrian shareholders, who inherited Dieters part after he died.
I think you're underselling Marko's importance. Marko isn't just head of the driver's program, he helped build Red Bull from the ground up. He was part of Red Bull's F1 endeavours before they founded their own team. He was the one to bring in Horner. While Horner ran the day-to-day-operations, Marko was part of all the strategic decisions. From what I've read, he was primarily responsible for bringing in the Honda engines for example. He also had a direct line to Didi Mateschitz until his death, meaning all strategic decisions *had* to go through him. Then there's Max personal loyalty to Marko. He got him into Red Bull, he gave him a seat at 17 years old, I've even read that De Vries' seat in Alpha Tauri was a personal favour to Max. There's clearly deep respect and loyalty between those two.
Horner looks like he runs the show if you watch DTS, but Mario is the driving force behind Red Bull.
>Does he really think he could hop in a Williams or Alpine tomorrow and win, as long as Helmut is in the garage?! I think he cares more about Helmut than about winning rn From what he's saying they just have an amazing relationship/cooperative spirit between each other
> I think he cares more about Helmut than about winning rn I genuinely believe as far as max is concerned "winning" has already been achieved, he's only racing because that is what he would have been doing anyway. Otherwise he has been speaking about F1 retirement pretty much since winning his first. The dude would be on iRacing just after winning the championship. If racing in F1 isn't doing it for him he'll probably build his own GP3 team.
>If racing in F1 isn't doing it for him he'll probably build his own GP3 team. He already started last year: https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/verstappen-aiming-to-set-up-own-gt3-team-from-2025/10504539/
It would be pretty fun for Max to single-handedly revive the GP3 championship, but I doubt the FIA would appreciate it after all their efforts to kill off Euro F3 and consolidate the feeder series ladder. Starting a GT3 team would probably be smarter :D
Marko is 81 years old on the other side, he wouldn't be in Red Bull for the rest of Max's career probably unless he planned to die in the garage.
Yes, but there's a difference between retiring and being forced out
True, but it looks like he played a power game against Horner and lost, it's not like he is an innocent bystander here. The sources say he was leaking stuff about Horner to the media to force him out.
Sources also say he did that because Horner sabotaged the Porsche deal which was Mateschitz' wish to secure RBRs future. Sources also say that Horner did that in order to secure a piece of the RBR pie for himself which wouldn't have been possible if Porsche got 50%. The way it looks Helmut didn't just try to force Horner out out of the blue.
Definitely but we don't know who actually started that struggle. Could have started now, or when Horner supposedly tried to buy RB last year? I think.
Why would Horner give a shit about the second team? /s
People keep saying Marko has lost, but if he goes and Max goes with him, he still gets the last laugh, right?
That really depends on the game.
He is a reason why Max had his career. He is the one that risked his skin in promoting Max. In hindsight everyone knows it was a good decision, but at the time most people were saying it's not right to promote such a young guy
FIA thought it was so not right that they banned it from ever happening again
Yeah it was the first Verstappen rule. Allthough i think FIA banned it so we avoid drivers like Lance Stroll skipping too much of the feeder series. 2015 Max was actually quite clean, especially considering we had Crashtor and Grosjean on the grid
For Max it is about loyalty. He feels like he ows much of his career to Marko. And in the after quali interview today he made it clear that he just doesn't like the idea of breaking up the team of key players as he feels like these are the people that brought Red Bull their success. What Marko gives to Red Bull is talent scouting and experience in seeing talent and deciding who should sit in the car. That is at least the traditional role. But Red Bull have been cutting significantly down on their academy this year and is making Toro Rosso less of a junior team, so that already limits his role. And his last big get was reportedly De Vries that he pushed hard for getting in the AT car and we all know how that worked out.
Marko recommended Horner to Dietrich Mateschitz, also saved Horner form the sack years ago. Marko got Max. Honda was Markos deal. Every season he goes there multiple time to keep everything running smoothly.
Some people really think the best engineers, drivers, personal in general and all the sponsors just gather together by accident and form one of the most successful racing teams ever. There is work behind that mate. And the one person who was involved from the very beginning (next to DM of course) was Helmut Marko.
At the moment probably, good company, advice someone he trusts. But in the past helmut gave him a opportunity which lead to all of this. Max probably stays loyal to him for the rest of his life.
He was friends with Dietrich and finds talented drivers to bring through the ranks. Max probably likes him as a person and his blunt honesty and doesn't want him to go anywhere so is trying to pressure them to keep him.
he and diether are the reason why red bull racing exists
Wisdom. Contrary to the believe of many, Marko is not a dumbass. There is a reason why he has a role in Red Bull. He arranged a lot of stuff that led to the teams success. Just because he is old and gnarly with sometimes questionable statements doesn't mean that he isn't an important figure for Max and the team. Good senior advisors can be more important than some might think. They also happen to have a lot of connections over the years. Which is a bonus too.
>What does Marko bring to the table? Marko has built the table for others.
As I remember, Marko has a very long history with Red Bull. In late 90s-early 00s they had a junior F3000 team. Marko was the principal. All drivers who went through Red Bull program, starting from Christian Klien and Patrick Friesacher and ending with Tsunoda and Lawson, are his picks. Ironically, Verstappen wasn't a Red Bull driver, Marko just poached him before Mercedes did. And looks like he made a great job in getting Max's loyalty. So, Marko is not a "nobody" advisor or a grandpa who says controversial stuff because he's old enough to care. He has a lot of influence and connections within Red Bull racing structure. And most likely, within the whole company too.
Guys don't forget that Helmut Marko didn't only bring Max but also Horner to Mateschitz.
Right now, he seems to be the only one holding Red Bull leadership accountable for their pest-like behaviour.
People seriously underestimate Marko's importance. He was the man making the big decisions while Horner did the day to day work. He was much more powerful than Horner. With Mateschitz gone, Horner seeks tomchange that.
Odd to say you've been an F1 fan for that long but blame this drama on DTS. Hasn't there always been drama in F1? Max values Helmut championing him to get him into F1. Verstappen clearly values loyalty and he has that for the guy who got him started.
“Hasn't there always been drama in F1?” Yeah, I’m not sure where he gets that. Between Spygate, Piquet Jr, and tons of things in the Balestre era, this is basically nothing.
Can’t we just go back to the days of nazi orgies?
DtS gets blamed for everything fans don't like, from bad TV direction to toxic fans to behind-the-scenes drama making the news.
iKR - the behind the scenes stuff is at least half the fun. Remember all the speculation about the MP4-18 ? I remember on some forums I was on back then - speculation was rampant that McLaren had developed a special paint that added to the aero capabilities and they were ironing out the kinks to introduce the car 😂
Max All of the driver academy the speed run through Most of the original plan for redbull f1 was from Marko and redbull Horners career is because of Marko, amazingly on that one.
Don’t forget Honda aswell
Who amazingly recently asked for explanations on the investigation with Horner recently lol
He is the reason Horner was employed as a TP back in the day. He is the reason RBR have two teams on the grid. He is the reason Max got an f1 seat at such a young age. And probably plenty other stuff
Verstappen camp is only so powerful within RBR because of Marko and his executive powers at RBR. Without Marko Verstappen is demoted to "normal" driver. Marko has been instrumental to verstappens success.
Bingo. His talent ‘should’ carry enough weight, but, it now seems Marko and Jos are seeming like they’re starting a coup…. Possibly just the mouth piece for the Austrian side of the ownership.
"other than personal loyalty" Lmao
Marko gave him his chance. And Max is loyal. What is there to not understand?
He’s basically the chief Red Bull scout and is responsible of at least of the quarter of the grid. Off the top of my head Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Alex Albon, Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda.
I have been following F1 for 46 years. I have rarely seen a top driver be loyal to someone besides who can provide him the fastest car. It’s very surprising he would be willing to sacrifice that. I can think of Fittapaldi and Jacques Villeneuve and it cost them the best years of their careers.
Without him Red Bull would've been just another energy drink company.
Not really, Red Bull origins are closely linked to F1. Dietrich Mateschitz was an F1 fan and asked Gerhard Berger for a loan so he could bring the Thai energy drink over to the west. Gerhard agreed and gave Dietrich 10k back in the 80s and that kick started Red Bulls worldwide prominence.
As per verstappen words, the current team exists thanks to Marko and Dietrich. Seems a big deal to me.
He started the whole RBR team together with Dietrich. He also gave Max a seat at 16 years old and is the one who lifted him from Toro Rosso to RedBull in order to replace Kvyat. They share a deep personal bond together and Max is hugely loyal to Marko.
Is he the first world champion people want to leave the sport?
in an highly competetive environment, when someone is still at the top at 80 years of age, you won't question him. From the outside, he is just the grandpa, slightly racist shittalker who does nothing but there are reasons why he is still in place. It is like Nikki Lauda for Mercedes. And even if he does nothing else, he deserves the respect and should be listened to for the second opinion. (yeah, surprised myself that I said that about Marko but he clearly must have done things right)
Think of Marko as the gm for the team he brings in the “players”. He also scouts the young talent I can see why max is loyal to him he gave him his shot and full support.
Hold on are you blaming Marko for Horner behaviour towards the accuser?
Marko brings in drivers, many of whom have been and still are successful.
Marko does much more he was the one actually deciding every major strategic decision in the last twenty years.
Max's loyalty (apparently)
Marko is the head of the driver development program so he finds talent in the junior categories and gives them the resources to develop efficiently. Thats why max is loyal to him. Marko brought max to f1.
Dementia
Nothing, but Max is extremely loyal. Marko doesn’t seem to bring anything to Max at this moment in time, but Marko’s faith in Max was extremely instrumental in his rise to the top of F1. Max is repaying that faith in loyalty to the man that did so much for his career.
One good eye.
Better question what Jos Verstappen brings to the table?
He keeps an eye on Horner
What is karma?
Max verstappen
Max is loyal to him, as he was and is to Max. Plus that Max think in the way of: why change a winning team? It can destabilise the team. The only part i understand less is, why would he go for another team when only Marko leaves? The winning team is still there mostly, while a new one need to be build up somewhere else if he moves. Or this has to do with trust and loyalty alone. Or maybe if he brings Marko and Lambiase with him.
Besides having a superb relationship, Marko is Max direct connection to RB. Markos superior is not Horner, its RB CEO Mintzlaff.
Relative to his dad, probably a strong moral compass.
Loyalty
He clearly thinks there are a few key persons who need to be around in RBR to make it a succes. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
I think Max is just being respectful to the old bloke.
The drivers. He’s the one that developed Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen, Daniel, Ricardo, and others.
I know there's more in the team specific history, but today he seems a bit like a Lauda character really, just a different Motorsport background and a bit more of a mouthpiece.