Breaking- Dr Helmut Marko to Leave Red Bull Racing

After 20 years of being the Milton Keynes-based team's advisor, Marko is set to leave his position amid rumours about rookie scandals.

(Image credits to @redbullracing on Instagram)

Dr Helmut Marko, aged 82, originally from Austria, has been with the team from the very start. He founded the company that eventually became Red Bull's junior team over two decades ago. But now, Red Bull has announced that he is retiring from the team after many successes, such as, most recently, Max Verstappen winning his fourth Drivers' World Championship in 2024.

In recent days, after the 2025 F1 Championship wrapped up in Abu Dhabi, rumours have been circulating about recent signings within the Red Bull group. Arvid Lindblad was announced to be the second driver for Red Bull's sister team, Racing Bulls, alongside Liam Lawson, with Hadjar and Verstappen driving for the main team. 

Despite these lineups being officially announced, fans still speculated about a different driver potentially originally being signed for Racing Bulls by Helmut himself. This driver was Alex Dunne. Rumours of his F1 debut started after he was immediately released from the McLaren Driver Academy earlier this year. Many thought this signalled that he had signed a contract with a team to drive in Formula 1 next year.

According to insiders, this did happen with the junior Red Bull team, but not by following Red Bull’s normal signing procedures meaning that both Lindblad and Dunne had been signed to the same seat. Locked into contracts with their existing drivers, Red Bull had to choose between the two young drivers and eventually decided on the Lawson-Lindblad duo for 2026, leaving Dunne without a Formula 1 seat or junior academy. It has been rumoured, though, that Dunne received a contract payout for the error.

Red Bull is yet to confirm this mishap or whether this is the reason Dr Marko has chosen to retire.

Article written by Isa Charlton © Isa Charlton 2025