Red Bull Racing say goodbye to Helmet Marko.

Helmet Marko, aged 82, is no stranger to journalists in the paddock as he has made statements easy for the media to make headlines out of. His most recent remark being about the young Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli where he said it was “so obvious” that he had moved over for Lando Norris during a battle in the Qatari Grand Prix. Footage later showed that Kimi Antonelli had a slight mistake of an oversteer which was then how the British driver could easily overtake. This moment led to a string of threats and hate towards the Italian driver and was not helped by Helmet Marko’s comment, as well as another comment by Max Verstappen’s race engineer at the end of the race. Red Bull Racing later released a statement apologizing.

This was only a recent example of the effects that Helmet Marko’s statements has caused and so when the announcement came of his retirement from Red Bull Racing, fans were left questioning the timing and reasoning of his departure.

Helmet Marko winning the 1971 Le Mans endurance race

Helmet Marko’s racing career started as a racing driver in the 70s where he competed in Formula one as well as becoming the winner of the famous endurance race ‘24 hour le mans’ in 1971. Before this he accomplished a doctorate in Law. His racing career ended abruptly after an unfortunate accident left him blinded in his left eye. He then founded the ‘RSM Marko’ in 1989 which is now known to be the Red Bull Junior team. His role swiftly shifted to driver management where he most famously oversaw the development of two world champions – Sebastian Vettal and Max Verstappen (as well as the talents of Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz). From 2005 (the same year RSM Marko became Red Bull Junior Team), his role in the team became an advisor to Red Bull Racing which successfully retained six constructors’ championships. This leaves Helmet Marko with a strong legacy.

It is therefore unfortunate for his work to be overshadowed by regretful statements and the latest story circulating of Helmet Marko going behind the shareholders wishes to sign Irish driver Alex Dunne to the Red Bull Racing Junior development team. Although Alex Dunne may already have had wishes to leave McLaren as their development driver, he is now left without a committed prospect for the next season as the Red Bull racing team could not fulfil Helmet Marko’s words in signing the driver. This move has left Red Bull to clean up the mess with a payout to Dunne while it is understood that he is in talks to sign with Alpine. This may have been the ultimate move that made Helmet realise that the new Red Bull structure around him no longer allows him any position of power he once had in signing new potential drivers.

Despite the strains in relationship between the team and Marko, a statement by Oliver Mintzlaff (CEO of corporate prokects and investments at Red Bull) states that “Helmut approached me with the wish to end his role as motorsport advisor at the end of the year… After a long and intensive conversation, I knew I had to respect his wishes, as I gained the impression that the timing felt right for him to take this step”. This aligns with Helmet Marko’s statement where he says, “Narrowly missing out on the world championship this season has moved me deeply and made it clear to me that now is the right moment for me personally to end this very long, intense and successful chapter”.

Helmet Marko’s departure slowly ends a dominant structure of pioneers in the Red Bull Racing family with only Max Verstappen, Gianpiero Lambiase and Hannah Schmitz left standing. However there are recent mumurs of Gianpiero Lambiase (Max Verstappen’s race engineer) also leaving his role track side to take on another role that allows him more time in the UK.

The departure of Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, and many other key figures has led the way of a new modernised culture and new key figure heads to make way within the team. If Gianpiero Lambiase also makes the decision to leave, where does that leave Red Bull’s star Max Verstappen? This is a close storyline to follow in 2026 season.