Imola breakthrough crucial for Verstappen's future - Marko

Red Bull's return to form at Imola was about more than just a race win, according to Dr Helmut Marko — it was a timely reminder to Max Verstappen that the team is still fighting at the highest level.

After McLaren's dominant run in the early part of the 2025 season, a major upgrade helped Red Bull and Verstappen bounce back with pole and victory in Italy.

"For the first time in a long time, Max didn't complain about the handling," Marko said. "We went around in circles for a year, but in Imola the car was finally top-notch again.

"It was important for Max to see that everyone was working hard and pulling together. Strategy, setup, handling, they were all top-notch. We were better than McLaren."

Why was that so "important"? Because, according to persistent paddock speculation, Verstappen holds contract exit clauses — potentially triggered around the summer break — allowing him to explore other high-paying opportunities before his deal runs out in 2028.

Imola, then, may have gone a long way toward convincing the reigning world champion to stay.

"Now let's just make sure we win the world championship," Marko told Österreich when asked about Verstappen's future, "and then we'll see what happens."

Some believe that the exit clause depends on Verstappen not winning the title — but Marko says that's not the case.

"It's not geared towards the world championship," he clarified.

Another sign of stability came at Imola, where rumours had been swirling that it would be Christian Horner's 400th — and final — race as Red Bull team boss. That turned out to be untrue.

"I don't know who started that nonsense," Marko said. "But now everything has changed anyway."

Still, Marko isn't taking Red Bull's resurgence for granted, especially heading into Monaco this weekend.

"Things could look completely different there," he said. "It's a completely different track with only slow corners. Things could go much worse for us there."

Verstappen has won at Monaco twice before, but Marko believes this year's edition could be especially pivotal.

"From a driver's perspective, it usually only comes down to qualifying — that one fast lap," he explained.

"The race is usually a farce. Last year, (Charles) Leclerc and (Carlos) Sainz were sometimes slower than in Formula 3.

"In my time — I drove F3, Formula Vee and Formula 1 there — it was really different. It was a real challenge, with no barriers — nothing."