This past weekend, the rumor suddenly surfaced that Helmut Marko might be fired from Red Bull. The special advisor has been locking horns with team principal Christian Horner over the recent chaos within the team, and it looked like Marko might draw the short straw and get dismissed. However, looking at it all, I think this might just have been a recent power play by Marko. And not in a manner that was very politically savvy. Instead, it looked more like a very poorly written movie.
Scene 1: Jos Verstappen meets with Toto Wolff
Exterior - the paddock at the Bahrain Grand Prix
Principal cast: Toto Wolff, Jos Verstappen, one well-placed photographer
The story starts a week earlier, at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The drive with supposed leaks from the Horner investigation had just been released, and as all the journalists try to figure out if it’s real or not, Max Verstappen cruises to an easy victory.
After the race, a photo emerges of Jos Verstappen talking to Toto Wolff. The Verstappen family had so far kept quiet on the whole ordeal, though it’s widely known that they prefer Marko over Horner. That would of course change over the coming week, as Jos Verstappen would go to every microphone available to say how important it is that Horner steps down immediately. It just so happens that during that same weekend, Jos Verstappen and Horner had a bit of a clash in the Red Bull paddock, which was also captured on film.
It is here, in this first scene, that the seeds of the next storyline are sowed. Because of Jos meeting with Toto, people suddenly started speculating that Max might be looking at other teams than Red Bull. A seat opens up at Mercedes next year because Lewis Hamilton will leave for Ferrari. Could Max be looking for a different team because of the instability at Red Bull? It’s a question that people suddenly began asking after the photo of Jos and Toto was released.
Scene 2: Helmut Marko suggests he’ll be fired
Exterior - the grid at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Principal cast: Helmut Marko, the news crew of ORF
At the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Helmut Marko suddenly dropped a bombshell. He revealed that he wasn’t sure if he would even be present at the next race, because he thinks he might get fired. He told this to Austrian news outlet ORF.
It’s important to note that Marko was and is the only source of this information. No news outlet has been able to confirm it and nobody else has stated that this is something that was being discussed. But given the backdrop of Marko and Horner feuding internally at Red Bull, it wasn’t that surprising that one of them might get shown the door sooner rather than later.
In terms of storyline, this scene is only loosely connected to the one that came before. But They both help create the set-up for the next scene, which ties them both together.
Scene 3: Max Verstappen pledges allegiance to Helmut Marko
Exterior - the mixed zone in Jeddah
Principal cast: Max Verstappen, the journalist ensemble
Hours after Marko revealed that he is supposedly getting fired, Max Verstappen is speaking to the Dutch journalists. When asked about the news, he has a very clear message: I can’t and won’t go on in Red Bull without Helmut Marko. If he’s out, then I’m out as well.
Max Verstappen usually doesn’t concern himself with stuff like this. In fact, it’s admirable how little he has said at all during this whole ordeal, because him weighing in on this wouldn’t really be adding anything. He has shown a great deal of restraint, urging everyone to focus on the racing again rather than the politics.
But that memo clearly hasn’t gotten to his father yet. Jos Verstappen very much wants to weigh in on all of this. Is it possible that he has instructed his son to do so as well? It would be a logical progression of his own statements, and would explain why Max has suddenly done something so out of character. It is known that Max has a strong love for Marko, so something as monumental as his mentor possibly getting fired might just be the nudge Verstappen needed to speak out.
The storyline clearly reaches its peak here. The first scene created the possibility in people’s minds that Max might be looking at other teams. The second scene gives us the proper motivation for him to do so. Now, this third scene combines that all into a serious problem for Red Bull.
Scene 4: Helmut Marko says he will not be fired
Interior - the press room in Jeddah
Principal cast: Helmut Marko, Oliver Mintzlaff
Just one day after dropping the bombshell that he might get fired, Marko had the great news that he will not be fired after all. He and Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff had, in the words of Marko, ‘a great conversation’ about it all and came to the conclusion that it would be better if he wasn’t fired. They even showed up at the track together to show just how well they get along.
Again, Marko is the only source of this information. Neither Mintzlaff, nor Horner, nor anyone else in the team has confirmed that this was something that was being discussed.
Here, we see the conclusion of this storyline. The problem has been averted, Marko is staying on, and therefore Verstappen can stay as well. However, we now need to see this in the much larger picture of the overarching story going on at Red Bull. Marko showed just how powerful he is within the team. If he goes, then so does the best driver on the grid. That gives him a serious advantage against Horner.
What was it all for?
So what was the point of all of this? Well, if I’m being a little conspiratorial, I’d think that this was yet another chapter in the power struggle within Red Bull. Before the weekend, it seemed like Christian Horner might survive the whole ordeal about his behavior. The investigation cleared him, he had not yet been fired, and the woman who accused him has even been suspended by Red Bull. Horner seems to have some very strong supporters still within the company, but there’s one thing that could very easily make him lose all support: if the star driver decides to ditch the team because he doesn’t believe in the leadership of Horner. Verstappen tying his own fate to that of Marko is a pretty big advantage for Marko compared to Horner. This might very well weaken the support that Horner still has within the board of directors. And sure enough, immediately after the race, reports started coming out that Horner was now about to be fired. As of writing this, that has not happened yet.
A less conspiratorial reading is that Helmut Marko was just being Helmut Marko. The man has as much restraint as a toddler on a suger rush. Put a microphone in front of him, and he will say the very first thing that comes into his mind. It is entirely possible that he let his own insecurities get to the forefront, with everything else just being a lucky coincidence. But that would have been a very, very lucky coincidence, because everything lined up perfectly for Marko to get all the support he could possibly want and need.
It’s clear that this story is far from over and will most likely continue on for the rest of the season. If nothing else, that at least gives us something to be invested in the next few weeks, because it looks like nothing interesting will happen on track this year.