Jos Verstappen contradicted by Red Bull's Helmut Marko as Max Verstappen's father's fears allayed

Red Bull's Helmut Marko has disagreed with Max Verstappen's father's fears that the Austrian squad is falling off as multiple key personnel have left the team. They were on top of the world in 2023 when the team won everything, bar one race. Coming into 2024, the team was expected to more or less continue on its path.

However, the team failed to execute. It all started with Red Bull's Christian Horner being investigated for inappropriate behavior by the team early in the season. In the aftermath, it became evident that there were cracks within the squad. The team was split, with Horner on one side and Helmut on the other leading to tension spilling over into the public.

As a result, there has been an extensive exodus of talent at Red Bull. The team has even lost the genius Adrian Newey, who would be in Aston Martin next season. Max Verstappen's father, Jos Verstappen, has been raising alarms about the same since last season when he said that the situation was not sustainable.

Red Bull's Helmut Marko, who has often been a close ally of Max and his father, feels different, as he said that the flow of resources from one team to another is nothing more than a natural progression. The team has seen some of its key members move away to other teams, offering better salaries and positions, something that is a reality of the free market. He said,

“Well, I would say that it's a natural development, when you've been as successful as we have been, that people are poached. [Courtenay] had an offer that was significantly more attractive in terms of position and financially, and that was the case for most of the people mentioned.”

Red Bull needs to find form to keep Max Verstappen

In one of the rare optimistic moods that Helmut Marko has been this season, he backed the Red Bull design to find out what was wrong with the car and fix it.

Emphasizing how having the fastest car on the grid was the key to keeping Max within the team, he said,

"We have to stand together and do everything we can to ensure that this world championship is won this year and that we also build successful cars for next year and the year after that, because that's the basis for being able to keep a Max Verstappen,”

Max Verstappen's contract with Red Bull extends to 2028, but the contract has quite a few exit clauses that hinge on performance. If the squad cannot provide the driver with the right car, his departure won't come as a surprise.