Marko opens up about his plans for the near future

With his contract set to expire at the end of the 2026 F1 season, Red Bull's motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko has revealed that he does not focus on his own future currently, but he wants to contribute to the Milton Keynes-based ambitions of getting itself back on winning ways.

The 79-year-old Austrian was the manager for Austrian racing drivers Gerhard Berger and Karl Wendlinger for several years prior to founding RSM Marko in 1989, a racing team who competed in Formula 3 and Formula 3000; running under the name Red Bull Junior Team from 1999 onwards.

Since Red Bull joined Formula One in 2005, Marko, who is a doctorate in law, has been responsible for Red Bull's driver development programme, which has seen several drivers progress to Formula One, including Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz Jr., Pierre Gasly and Max Verstappen.

Marko's Formula One graduates have a combined eight World Drivers' Championship titles and 131 Grands Prix between them, with Vettel achieving the first in 2010.

Speaking to Kleine Zeitung ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix, Marko has revealed that while his contract with Red Bull ended at the end of the current season, he puts his focus on getting the back on winning ways.

"My contract runs until the end of 2026. Right now, the main focus is on getting the team back on track for winning. A lot of that depends on the technology, even though we had a setback with our pit stops.

"But that was understandable; the last few stops worked, and our strategy was good again. Everything has to be 100 percent right for us to have a chance against McLaren.

"But that's not easy, because we practically only have one driver. And it doesn't matter who you choose: since 2016, since Max has been in the car, every second driver has, sooner or later, retired, failed, or been crushed by Max."