Marko not ready to decide his future in F1

MAY 29, 2024

Dr Helmut Marko says he will not decide on his next Formula 1 commitment “until the time is right”.

Even despite the outbreak of a power struggle and the Christian Horner scandal, Red Bull appears to have maintained its dominant position going into the 2024 season.

However, renowned technical guru Adrian Newey has now reduced his involvement and will leave the team completely at the start of next year – just as Red Bull are now struggling at some tracks and are often beaten by Ferrari and McLaren.

Asked about the ongoing internal conflict within the team, consultant Marko told Osterreich newspaper: “Max (Verstappen) has disengaged from it and is focusing on racing.

He does a very good job in this regard.

But Marko, 81, admits turmoil around team boss Horner remains, with a female staff member now in the middle of an internal appeal process.

It’s something we have to put aside, insists the Austrian, “especially in a situation where we are technically so demanding as a team.

We need everyone to come together.

Marko’s current contract, which is with Red Bull GmbH rather than the Formula 1 team, is not due to expire until 2026. And he is not ruling out signing a new one with a rival team – with Toto Wolff being eager to attract both Marko and his protégé. Verstappen to Mercedes.

But at the moment everything is focused on Red Bull and Max Verstappen, Marko insists.

Former Red Bull driver Christijan Albers, who criticized Horner amid the 2024 power struggle, says he was confronted by his former team boss in Monaco.

At first he felt like he could intimidate me, Albers, who is now a journalist and expert, told De Telegraaf. “It didn’t really work.

“I told him, ‘You can’t make your problem my problem.’ But I also told him that the English press was taking extracts from wherever they could find quotes and blowing them up.

Finally it was over, I asked him a question on the grid, and everything went well, added the Dutchman.

(GMMM)