Marko: Red Bull went from “given up” to F1 title contenders

Speaking to Sky F1 Germany after Max Verstappen’s dominant victory at the United States Grand Prix, the Austrian explained how Red Bull’s resurgence has brought fresh energy to both the factory and the race team. The result at Austin cut Verstappen’s gap to championship leader Oscar Piastri to 40 points with five rounds remaining.

Marko said: “Talking about ‘shooting range’ is a bit of an exaggeration with a 40-point deficit, but there are five races left, including two Sprints. If we can maintain this form, it could become really exciting again.”

Reflecting, Marko admitted that motivation had faded earlier in the season but credited Mekies for a renewed sense of direction: “The team’s morale is at its highest right now. It’s clear that McLaren is no longer as comfortable. Piastri has also had some difficulties, I hope it continues like this.

“We more or less gave up over the summer. In hindsight, that was a mistake. There are no more circuits coming up that particularly favour McLaren. I think we’re now pretty evenly matched, and in the end, it’s Max who makes the difference.”

Marko said Mekies’ approach has re-energised Red Bull’s operations: “There has been a real change. Laurent has managed to bring a different approach to both the technical setup and the general way of working. We’re no longer miles off the pace on Fridays.

"And suddenly, Max too - after his (GT3) victory at the Nürburgring- came back incredibly motivated. Honestly, we had already given up during the summer, and now everyone is hungry again," said Marko, of the spirit within the Red Bull cmp amid this remarkable resurgence.

Charles Leclerc started the race on soft tyres in his Ferrari, giving Verstappen the opportunity to extend his lead over Lando Norris as the Monegasque slotted in between the two.

“Originally, we hadn’t planned to use the soft tyres, or even the hard ones,” Marko explained. “But as we saw with a few cars, the hard tyres performed very badly. Yes, Leclerc made it a little easier for us. But we still had the speed to maintain position, even against Lando.”

Marko joked that he owed Leclerc a favour: “I should probably send him a couple of boxes of Red Bull. It helped us because we weren’t under immediate pressure. We had the speed we needed, even if Lando had been right behind us.”

Looking ahead, Marko believes that none of the remaining circuits will strongly favour any one team: “No, because as I said, there are no more McLaren or Mercedes circuits. We’re talking about thousandths of a second, the difference in the corners.”

Despite Red Bull’s renewed pace and Verstappen’s momentum, Marko remains measured: “We’re taking each race as it comes and trying to do our best every time. There’s hope, as there are still two Sprint races left. Max is, I believe, the record holder in Sprints.”

He added that unpredictable weather could play a part: “I also heard it might rain in Mexico. In that case, Max’s performance will be the deciding factor anyway. Stella suggested we’ve gained a head start in the development race, I disagree. We have the fastest driver!”

Marko concluded with a hint of confidence: “We still have something up our sleeve for the car. I don’t know exactly when it will come, but there’s a flow, a real flow. We’re enjoying it, but we’re working hard to keep it going.”