Helmut Marko: Post-Christian Horner Red Bull revival ‘fantastic’

Red Bull has roared back into form, with Max Verstappen crushing McLaren’s run of dominance by taking a 20-second victory at Monza. “Or was it 19?” runner-up Lando Norris grinned. “I just don’t want any misinformation.”

For rivals, the scale of Verstappen’s display was hard to ignore. “One driver made the whole field look ridiculous today,” Mercedes chief Toto Wolff admitted. Norris, though, was still bristling after branding Verstappen an “idiot” for his turn one aggression.

Their cool-down room body language was frosty, and when asked afterwards if he thought Verstappen had been fair, he shrugged: “It’s not my decision. Got nothing to say. It was good.” Verstappen preferred to brush it off. “Not at all,” he told Viaplay when asked if he had much to say about the incident. “There’s no point to it. None of that matters anymore.”

Instead, the real story was Red Bull’s sharp resurgence in the first races of the post-Christian Horner era. New team boss Laurent Mekies called the Monza triumph a reward for persistence. “At one point, it felt like McLaren would always have the upper hand. To get this result now is fantastic,” he said.

Helmut Marko went further, crediting Mekies for steering the team back on course. “The engineers have pushed the car to the limit and kept exploring,” the 82-year-old said. “The atmosphere is back at Red Bull. We’re genuinely happy again.”

He even revealed that McLaren’s Andrea Stella made a point of congratulating him. “And rightly so,” Marko smiled. “We’re rivals, but not enemies. This is the right atmosphere between teams.” The Red Bull advisor says it’s about more than just updates.

“Two races ago in Hungary we looked awful. Last year Monza was one of our worst weekends. Now it was total dominance,” he said. “Laurent has changed the way we approach racing, and it’s clearly paying off.” Part of the turnaround is also about attitude, Marko told De Telegraaf. “Before, we never ran at full power on Friday. Now we’re pushing harder, closer to the limit.

That’s partly Mekies’ influence, and also the new floor we had on Max’s car. It worked really well. And we listen more to Max’s feedback, he’s got over 200 grands prix, so we trust his experience as much as the numbers.” Verstappen backed that assessment.

“Laurent has an engineering background, so he asks the right questions. Already in Zandvoort I felt we’d taken a step, and here another one. It’s going in the right direction.” Asked by Bild whether Horner’s departure explained the mood shift, Marko was direct: "Absolutely. We’re laughing again. The old Red Bull spirit is back.”

Even if Verstappen remains 94 points adrift of Oscar Piastri, Marko is upbeat. “We’ve put the championship aside, but I think we can still win a few more races,” he said. “The Red Bull spirit and feeling are back. We’re back on track.”