All Red Bull staff disagreed with Helmut Marko on where Max Verstappen would finish at the Mexican GP

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Max Verstappen kept himself in the title hunt in 2025 by grabbing his sixth consecutive podium at the Mexican Grand Prix.

The Dutchman was keen to continue his strong form, having taken 64 points out of Oscar Piastri’s championship lead from Monza to Austin. However, his Red Bull struggled for pace at the Mexico City Grand Prix, leaving him to qualify in P5.

Verstappen went four-wide into turn one with Lando Norris and the Ferraris before running onto the grass. On lap four, he collided with Lewis Hamilton and ran off the track again, before the Ferrari driver ran wide at turn four and cut through the grass and into P3.

Hamilton was handed a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, while the Red Bull driver received no sanction. Martin Brundle agreed with the decision, as Hamilton did not back off and hand the position back to Verstappen.

The four-time champion produced a mega second stint on the soft tyre as he closed down on Charles Leclerc for P2. But a late virtual safety car denied a tense battle in the final laps, which left Verstappen settling for third.

Only Helmut Marko believed Max Verstappen would score a podium in Mexico, no one at Red Bull would ‘bet’ on it

Red Bull struggled to match the pace of McLaren and Ferrari for much of the weekend, with Helmut Marko putting it down to a ride height issue. Despite this, he still believed that Verstappen would finish on the podium.

But as journalist Ronald Vording noted, no one at Red Bull backed that prediction, nor were they willing to ‘bet’ with Marko on it: “First, I talked to Helmut Marko, and he said: ‘Yeah, we went too low with the ride height basically,” he said via Autosport.

“So, the car bottomed out in turn nine, but he said in the race, it’s not going to be a disadvantage because we will go slower through that high-speed section. So, [the] car will be a bit higher and the bottoming will not be an issue anymore.

“Then we had the Dutch media session with Max. But he was quite frustrated because he said: ‘We need to be perfect for a shot at the title’. And of course, Saturday was not perfect at all.

“So then I put the Helmut Marko quote to him. I said: ‘Well, Marko said, OK, it’s not going to be an issue on Sunday. And while I asked a question, he already started laughing, and he usually does when he is frustrated and he hears all the optimism from Helmut Marko.

“So he went like: ‘No, the car doesn’t work today. The car also won’t work tomorrow. Let’s just leave it like that, the car doesn’t work this weekend’.

“So, Helmut was the only one within the team who believed the podium was possible. He also wanted to place a bet on it, but no one within the team wanted to make a bet with him.”

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Is Max Verstappen still in the 2025 title race?

Verstappen admits his race pace was not on Norris’ level, as the McLaren driver finished more than 30 seconds up the road from him and Leclerc.

Laurent Mekies says Verstappen would not have beaten Norris in a re-run, highlighting that the RB21 just did not have the pace to match their title rivals. The Brit now leads the championship by one point, while the Dutchman sits 36 points behind in third.

With four races and two Sprints to go, it would be foolish to count Verstappen out of the running. However, upcoming circuits may not be better suited to the 28-year-old, such as Las Vegas and Qatar.

The next round at Sao Paulo could be season-defining. Andrea Stella knows Verstappen will punish McLaren if it rains; it could be his last shot to keep himself in contention.