By Ben Langley
Helmut Marko Begins New Role in Red Bull…
Helmut Marko has a new role that sees him back in the Red Bull family, but his new job doesn’t involve him trying to keep Max Verstappen around. His new role sees him become ambassador for the Red Bull Ring circuit in Austria.
The Spielberg circuit returned to the Formula 1 calendar in 2016 and has hosted races ever since. Marko, who is Austrian himself, confirmed he would be present at F1’s Austrian Grand Prix in June.
Marko’s new ambassadorial role will see him return to the Formula 1 paddock for the first time since leaving the Red Bull team last year. His main goal for the new role is to promote interest surrounding the many events that are hosted at the Red Bull Ring. Other than F1, the Austrian circuit hosts Moto GP as well as the Red Bull Ring Classics series taking place next month.
Helmut Marko left the Red Bull team after working as a motorsport adviser for 20 years following his decision to retire. This decision sent shockwaves across the sport, but his departure was not the only big name to leave the Milton Keynes outfit in recent times. Marko joins the list containing Christian Horner, Jonathan Wheatley and Adrian Newey as major figures leaving the team recently, with power struggles causing constraints at the top. Verstappen’s race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase was another one to announce his departure which will come at the end of 2027. Verstappen previously stated that Lambiase and Marko were crucial to him staying with Red Bull, but following Marko’s exit and Lambiase’s on the horizon, there is growing doubt that the Dutchman will commit to Red Bull in the long-term future.
Marko’s role in Red Bull was to oversee the development of their young drivers within the sister team before potentially being promoted to the senior squad. He oversaw their major successes in Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen who won four championships each with Red Bull. The Austrian was also responsible for promoting young drivers despite having little experience. In the past, he promoted Alexander Albon, Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson despite the trio not having years of experience. These decisions would come back to bite Red Bull as the struggles of competing with Verstappen was detrimental to these drivers who failed to stamp their mark. However, these drivers have seen an upturn in their careers since making the move away from the Red Bull family. The team’s new driver for this season, Isack Hadjar, has seemingly bucked the recent trend as the Frenchman has made a promising start to the 2026 season. However, Red Bull’s form has been disappointing this season and so the team will be hoping their competitiveness has improved when they head to their home race in less than two months.
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