“Now is the right moment” - Helmut Marko on His Departure From Red Bull

On his time with the team, Marko said, "I have been involved in motorsport for six decades now, and the past 20-plus years at Red Bull have been an extraordinary and extremely successful journey. It has been a wonderful time that I have been able to help shape and share with so many talented people. Everything we have built and achieved together fills me with pride.”

Indeed, in his two decades with the team, Marko served as a key figure in the Red Bull Junior Programme. He has led the progression of several great talents from junior racing categories into F1, including World Champions Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel. This year the organization brought in Isack Hadjar, who has shown immense skill in their sister team, VCARB, and in 2026 they will be adding Arvid Lindblad to their roster as Hadjar is set for a promotion to Red Bull. 

But this past year has been a struggle for Red Bull as a whole. They were met with much criticism on driver handling after a lineup shuffle following the second round of the season in China, which saw Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda swap their seats at VCARB and Red Bull, respectively. They also parted ways with team principal Christian Horner midway through the year, after struggling to make gains in the Championship fight. The season culminated in a race to the finish, which saw Verstappen losing out on a fifth drivers’ title to McLaren’s Lando Norris by just two points.

“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,” said Marko following the season finisher in Abu Dhabi. “I wish the entire team continued success and am convinced that they will be fighting for both World Championship titles again next year.“

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Team principal Laurent Mekies also commented on Marko’s departure, saying, “It is very sad news that Helmut is leaving us. He has been such an integral part of our team and of Red Bull's entire motor racing programme for more than two decades.

"This is therefore the end of a remarkably successful chapter. His departure will leave a void, and we will truly miss him.

"I would like to express my sincere gratitude for his unwavering support, not only over the past months, but also during my early days at Scuderia Toro Rosso.

"On a personal note, Helmut, along with [CEO] Oliver Mintzlaff, was the driving force behind bringing me back into the Red Bull family, first in Faenza and then this summer in my current role in Milton Keynes.

"Helmut is a real racer at heart, always pushing us to the limit, always prepared to take risks in pursuit of our goals."

What 2026 holds for Red Bull is not yet clear, as many changes await them next season. In addition to the new regulations that will be impacting the sport as a whole, the team will have gone through major transformations since the beginning of 2025, including new driver lineups, a still fresh team principal, as well as other potential changes as rumors of race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase’s presence on the pit wall circulate. Yet the absence of Marko will certainly be one of the biggest, as it marks the departure of someone whose influence has shaped Red Bull’s driver philosophy for nearly two decades.

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All images via Red Bull Content Pool.