Helmut Marko speaks out about Verstappen's near future at Red Bull

13:58, 05 Aug

Updated: 14:06, 05 Aug

byLudo van Denderen

After months of uncertainty about whether Max Verstappen would stay on, Red Bull Racing heard the words it had been craving for this past week: Verstappen will definitely be staying with Red Bull until 2026.

After the Hungarian Grand Prix - which ended disastrously for Red Bull - Helmut Marko spoke about the importance of retaining his star driver.

'Relief for Red Bull'

“It's a big relief and the whole team is really, really enthusiastic to make a better car for him next year,” the external advisor told a select group of media, including GPblog.

Who will be Verstappen's teammate in '26 remains unclear. His current teammate Yuki Tsunoda finished outside of the points in Hungary, although his starting position from the pit lane already put him in a difficult situation.

Helmut Marko is happy that Verstappen is staying at Red Bull

Tsunoda is making progress according to Marko

Marko explained that Red Bull chose to replace power unit compotenents on Tsunoda's car after he was eliminated in Q1.

"Yes, because [then] he would have to change in maybe Monza or Zandvoort and I think because of his starting position it was strategically better to do it here."

Although Tsunoda didn't eventually score any points, there was some optimism about the Japanese driver's performance. “He was as near as never before. One tenth he was behind. Unfortunately, he was dropped out in Q1. So, he's moving up,” said Marko.