Jul.24 (GMM) Declining car performance aside, Red Bull F1 advisor Dr Helmut Marko admits a new priority at the team is to end Max Verstappen’s foul mood.
“Max is really angry,” Verstappen’s 81-year-old mentor, Marko, told Auto Bild on Tuesday.
On the face of it, the triple world champion simply lost his temper over the Hungarian GP weekend as it became clear a critical Red Bull car upgrade did not dislodge McLaren as the new overall frontrunners in Formula 1.
However, even those who know Verstappen very well were surprised at just how furious the 26-year-old driver was last weekend.
“Seeing Max like that, and how he was after the race, is not something I like to see as a motorsport fan,” former F1 driver and Dutch GP boss Jan Lammers told NOS.
“We don’t want him to be more or less indifferent about second or third places, but we also have to accept that he is quite a bad loser.”
Other Dutch F1 insiders see Verstappen becoming more like his mercurial father Jos as he gets older. “You know what I saw in him in Hungary?” F1 commentator Olav Mol said. “I saw Jos.”
On Ziggo Sport, former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos agrees: “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
Attempting to explain the particularly bad mood, Marko denied it had anything to do with Verstappen’s 3.30am bedtime on race-day morning after a sim racing stint.
“He expected more from the upgrade,” the Austrian told Osterreich.
And to Auto Bild, Marko continued: “Max is really angry. We now have to make sure that his mood improves again. Our car has to get better again. Unfortunately, the updates didn’t work as we wanted.
“So it’s about improving the car again and giving Max a good feeling. Then he will have no reason to think about a (team) change.
“Tempers will calm down again,” Marko added. “He is the best driver in Formula 1. He makes the difference. He also knows that we know that.”
Indeed, Verstappen has been repeatedly linked with a sensational switch to Mercedes, as the internal leadership struggle and Christian Horner scandal raged in 2024.
But, over the course of the Hungarian GP weekend, Red Bull is reported to have definitively closed Verstappen’s exit route by agreeing a new contract with Marko – which explicitly unties Marko from Verstappen contractually.
Marko even admits it is the right move for Red Bull to cling tightly to Verstappen, even though the team allowed Sebastian Vettel to leave for Ferrari with a full year to go on the German’s existing contract back in 2014.
“It’s different with Max,” Marko insisted.
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