Helmut Marko is leaving Red Bull Racing, and with him goes the last living link to the team’s wild, risky, and wildly successful first era in Formula 1.

Red Bull officially confirmed that its longtime motorsport advisor will step down at the end of the 2025 season, closing a chapter that began before the team even took over Jaguar’s F1 entry in 2005. In over two decades, Marko helped turn a drinks brand into one of the sport’s dominant forces, collecting eight Drivers’ Championships and six Constructors’ titles between 2010 and 2024.

The 82-year-old says the decision is his and his alone. He points to age, an intense workload, and the heartbreak of seeing Max Verstappen narrowly lose the 2025 title to Lando Norris. But the timing, and the recent power shifts at Red Bull, make this more than a simple retirement story.

The last original pillar of Red Bull’s F1 project steps away

When Red Bull bought what was left of Jaguar Racing and entered F1 in 2005, Helmut Marko was already there in the shadows, pulling strings. He had been involved with Red Bull’s wider motorsport projects before the F1 team even existed, trusted by company founder Dietrich Mateschitz as the sharp eye who could spot raw talent and make the hard calls.

Marko was never the team principal, never the face on the pit wall, but he was something arguably more powerful: the architect of Red Bull’s driver vision. He built and ran the Red Bull Junior Driver Programme, a conveyor belt that took teenagers and turned them into world champions.

From that system came Sebastian Vettel, who claimed four straight titles from 2010 to 2013, and Max Verstappen, who became the dominant force of the 2020s. Others came and went faster, as Marko’s reputation for being ruthless with underperforming drivers grew. But his results were impossible to ignore.

Now, with Marko’s exit fixed for the end of 2025, every one of the original power figures that built Red Bull’s first F1 empire has stepped aside. Christian Horner and long-serving sporting director Jonathan Wheatley are already gone. With Marko following them out the door, Red Bull is now firmly in a new age.

“This isn’t just a staff change, it feels like Red Bull’s first dynasty finally ending.”

Why Marko says now is the right time to leave

In Red Bull’s official announcement, Marko frames the move in clear, personal terms. At 82, the pace of modern Formula 1 is relentless. The calendar is longer than ever, the political battles are non-stop, and the pressure on top teams is constant.

Marko said that the 2025 season, in which Verstappen was beaten to the title by Lando Norris in a fierce fight, had a deep emotional impact on him.

“Narrowly missing out on the world championship this season has moved me deeply and made it clear that now is the right moment for me personally to end this very long, intense, and successful chapter,” he explained.

It is a rare public glimpse of vulnerability from a man better known for blunt criticism than open emotion. For two decades, Marko has been the one pushing young drivers harder, setting high standards, and making career-defining calls. To admit the 2025 defeat hit him so hard that it helped push him towards the exit says a lot about how much he has lived this project.

Red Bull’s praise: engine of innovation, cornerstone of success

Inside Red Bull, at least in public, the tone is one of praise and respect. Oliver Mintzlaff, Red Bull’s CEO of Corporate Projects and Investments, did not hold back in his tribute.

“Helmut Marko was an engine of innovation and a cornerstone of international motorsport. His instinct for exceptional talent shaped our junior program and Formula 1 as a whole… His passion, courage to make clear decisions, and ability to spot potential will remain unforgettable,” Mintzlaff said.

New team principal Laurent Mekies, who has been installed to guide Red Bull into its next era, also spoke about the size of the gap Marko will leave behind.

“It is very sad that Helmut is leaving. He has been such an integral part of our team and motorsport program for two decades. This marks the end of a remarkably successful chapter,” Mekies said. “His departure leaves a void and will truly be missed.”

The word that keeps returning from inside the team is “chapter”. Red Bull is clearly ready to frame this not as a shock, but as a natural end to a hugely successful story and the beginning of something new.

“You don’t just replace Helmut Marko with a committee and expect the same magic in the junior ranks.”

Behind the scenes: tension, politics, and a changing power map

Both Marko and Mintzlaff have publicly insisted the decision is Marko’s alone. On the surface, that story fits: an 82-year-old stepping away after an intense and draining season.

But reports around the paddock suggest there is more going on under the surface.

Following the death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022, the company’s internal structure shifted. Mintzlaff took on a key leadership role over projects like the F1 team. With new people at the top comes new priorities, and Marko’s old, near-untouchable status began to look less secure.

There have been suggestions of tension between Marko and Mintzlaff over how much freedom the motorsport division should have and how aggressively the junior program should be run. One specific flashpoint mentioned in reports is a dispute involving young driver Alex Dunne’s contract, which appears to have highlighted the growing friction.

No one on the record is calling this a power struggle, but the signs are clear: Red Bull is centralising control, and the days when Marko could act as the all-powerful driver kingmaker seem to be over.

His exit, then, is likely driven by more than just age and emotion. It also reflects a changing Red Bull, one where the people who built the empire are slowly being moved aside in favour of a new leadership model.

New era, new engine, new boss: Red Bull’s big reset

Marko’s departure does not stand alone. It is part of a bigger reset happening at Milton Keynes.

Christian Horner, the team’s longtime principal and face of its F1 effort for nearly two decades, is already out. So is Jonathan Wheatley, the experienced sporting director who helped build Red Bull’s race-day machine. In their place stands Laurent Mekies, who must now run a team that is both incredibly successful and rapidly changing.

On top of that, Red Bull has a new engine chapter ahead, with the planned power unit partnership with Ford. From 2026, the Red Bull-Ford project is expected to redefine how the team works, blending in-house chassis strength with a fresh power unit identity.

Put simply: new boss, new engine, new structure, and soon, no Helmut Marko. The timing is not random. It suggests Red Bull is trying to build a clear, modern shape for the future and wants to do it with a different style of leadership than the one that ruled from 2010 through the early 2020s.

“Red Bull feels less like a rebel team now and more like a big factory giant – Marko leaving is the final sign of that shift.”

Marko, Verstappen, and the question everyone is asking

One of the biggest talking points around Marko’s exit is simple: what does this mean for Max Verstappen?

Marko was one of the key figures who pushed Red Bull to sign Verstappen as a teenager and fast-track him into F1. He has been a strong supporter and protector of Verstappen inside the team ever since, often making public comments that showed just how close their relationship was.

With Verstappen losing the 2025 title to Lando Norris after a fierce season-long fight, the pressure is already back on Red Bull to rebuild its edge. The Dutchman is still the team’s centrepiece, but without Marko in the background, the internal politics around him may change.

Will Red Bull’s new leadership give Verstappen the same level of backing and freedom? Will he feel as at home in a structure where Marko no longer has his back? Those are the questions that will hang over the 2026 rules change and the Ford engine era.

For now, there is no sign of an immediate break between Verstappen and Red Bull, but it is clear that the safety net he once had at the top of the organisation will not be there forever.

The legacy: a ruthless kingmaker who changed how F1 finds stars

Strip away the politics, and Helmut Marko leaves behind a clear legacy: he changed how Formula 1 finds, backs, and manages young drivers.

The Red Bull Junior Team was not the first academy in motorsport, but it set a new standard for aggression and ambition. Teenagers were put on the fast track to F1. If they shined, doors opened at Toro Rosso (now Visa Cash App RB) and then Red Bull itself. If they struggled, they could be dropped with little warning.

That ruthless edge made Marko a divisive figure. Many fans and insiders felt he was too quick to move drivers on. Others argued that his approach created chances that would never have existed under more cautious systems.

What cannot be argued is the scoreboard. Under his watch, Red Bull turned:

• Vettel into a four-time world champion.
• Verstappen into the defining driver of a generation.
• The team itself into a title winner against giants like Ferrari and Mercedes.

From a brand often dismissed as just a drinks company in the early 2000s, Red Bull became the benchmark. Marko’s sharp eye for talent and his fearless decision-making were at the heart of that climb.

What comes next for Red Bull – and F1

As 2025 winds down and Marko prepares to step back, the sport finds itself at a turning point. The people who shaped the last 15 years of Red Bull dominance are almost all gone. The team is still fast, still dangerous, and still a title threat, but it is no longer led by the same rebel group that shook up the old order.

Red Bull must now prove it can keep winning under a more corporate, more structured leadership. It must keep attracting and developing young drivers without the man who built its talent machine. And it must keep Verstappen happy in a world where his closest ally is no longer in the office.

Helmut Marko’s departure at the end of 2025 is, on paper, a logical move by an 82-year-old who has given everything to one project. In reality, it feels bigger than that. It is the closing of Red Bull’s first great F1 book.

The next one starts now – with different authors, a different engine, and the same huge expectations.