Marko hints at who plays key role in McLaren's current dominant form

Red Bull's motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko has hinted at who plays key role in McLaren's current dominant form, claiming that the Milton Keynes-based outfit's former chief designer Rob Marshall has massively contributed to the papaya team's current performance.

Amid McLaren's current dominant form in the 2025 F1 season, Red Bull's Motorsport Advisor Dr Helmut Marko hinted at Rob Marshall who who "certainly plays a key role in McLaren's successes."

“McLaren has seen that he is an excellent engineer, and he certainly plays an important role in the team's success. It's good when your roles are occupied by people with great experience and who also bring practical knowledge.”

Having studied mechanical engineering at Cardiff University, Marshall went to work at the design department of Rolls-Royce. In 1994, he switched to Benetton Formula as a race engineer, staying with the Enstone-based outfit even after Renault took over it. During this long period of time at Enstone, Marshall worked his way through the ranks to eventually become Head of Mechanical Design.

For the 2006 season, Marshall moved to the new Red Bull Racing team, where he worked with Adrian Newey in the role of Chief Designer. He had a key role in the cars that won 4 world titles between 2010 and 2013 with Sebastian Vettel.

At the start of 2023, Marshall announced that he would leave Red Bull following a 17-year tenure, joining McLaren as the Technical Director responsible for Engineering and Design, beginning in January 2024 after a period of gardening leave.

However, after just three months this role was changed to that of Chief Designer as part of a technical restructuring at McLaren which involved David Sanchez, Technical Director for Car Concept and Performance, leaving the team.

Asked whether he thinks McLaren will need to use team orders in the remaining ten races of the season, Marko noted that the papaya team's current dominance means that it is unneccessary.

“As long as you are so dominant, you can stay in the lead without team orders. I think it's very sporty that they haven't used them," Marko added.

"If the situation gets more interesting, having two top drivers is certainly a disadvantage, but with McLaren's advantage this is not the case at the moment. They're not risking anything right now.”