Marko: Verstappen losing to Norris a bitter disappointment

Marko opened up about Verstappen's title defeat and his own exit from the role he played at Red Bull for almost 20 years, where he managed to deliver race-winning drivers and two quadruple F1 Champions in the form of Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel before him, who dominated the sport between 2010 and 2013.

Marko's retirement was announced following the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, and he reflected on the season and his exit when speaking to Austrian broadcaster ORF.

He said: "We had a difficult season this year. It was particularly bumpy in the middle. We were 104 points behind in Holland.

"Then we started a comeback that was certainly unique. But unfortunately, it didn't work out in the last race. We lost the Championship by two points.

“Although this comeback was unique, it was still a very bitter disappointment. It hit us particularly hard. Even after the race, I felt that something had been lost," the 82-year-old insisted.

He then revealed: “I then stayed in Dubai on Monday. That's when I made my decision. Even if we had won, it would have been a good reason to leave this job. But now, in hindsight, because we lost, it's also a good point.”

Marko's exit is clearly an end of an era at Red Bull after the exit of former tech guru Adrian Newey and then their former boss Christian Horner, who led the team since Red Bull took over the Jaguar operation ahead of the 2005 season.

And while there is speculation that he was pushed out, the Austrian insists that he took his decision on his own without even discussing it with any of those around him.

"I didn't discuss it [decision] with anyone," he claimed. "But [I] called Oliver Mintzlaff, the manager responsible at Red Bull, in Dubai and asked if we could meet briefly. A kind of championship dinner was planned. And we met before the dinner.

“I told him what I wanted. We discussed for a while whether a partial solution was still possible. I said that if we were going to do it, we had to do it completely.

"That happened ad hoc. The other shareholder from the Thai family was also present. But it was all very amicable and went very well.

“Max should have been there too. There were some problems with his flight, so he wasn't there," he added. “I called him the next day.

"It wasn't a normal conversation. There was a certain melancholy in the air. He said he never could have imagined that he would ever achieve such success," Marko concluded.

With Marko now out of Red Bull and with Laurent Mekies leading the outfit, it appears that the former World Champions are now starting with a clean slate ahead of the 2026 F1 season, where there will be a sweeping regulations change both on chassis and power-unit fronts as Red Bull Racing attempt to build their first in-house F1 power unit in collaboration with Ford.