Helmut Marko performs u-turn on Max Verstappen’s Red Bull future after Austrian Grand Prix retirement

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Max Verstappen failed to finish a race for the first time this season at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Red Bull’s current issues were made clear for everyone to see as soon as Max Verstappen was sent spinning by Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli on Sunday.

It meant the pressure was on Yuki Tsunoda to deliver for Christian Horner’s team at the Austrian Grand Prix, but he couldn’t have been further from proving his growing list of doubters wrong.

Tsunoda declared his car was undrivable throughout the race weekend and finished last after picking up a penalty for hitting Franco Colapinto after colliding with Lance Stroll earlier in the race.

Verstappen lost even more ground on Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the drivers’ championship; however, the Dutchman has routinely dismissed that he’s even in the conversation to win the title this year.

Jos Verstappen has shared Max’s concerns about Red Bull’s car, but chief advisor Helmut Marko was surprisingly calm after the race about the 27-year-old’s situation.

Verstappen has been linked with leaving Red Bull, with Mercedes in talks with his camp, as revealed by George Russell.

However, Marko has provided an update on Red Bull’s feelings towards the four-time world champion seeking an exit at the end of the season.

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Helmut Marko has ‘no reason’ to think Max Verstappen will leave Red Bull

It was put to Marko during an interview with ORF that the race in Austria might only add fuel to the suggestions that Verstappen could leave Red Bull and he answered: “I assume that you take advantage of a race like this, but you have to allow it again, and I think you can leave it at that now.

“He has a contract until 2028, like all top teams, there are release clauses based on performance, and as things stand, there’s no reason at all why this contract couldn’t be fulfilled.

Marko was asked about Verstappen’s Red Bull exit clause and whether the parameters that would allow it to kick in have now been met.

He responded: “They are currently such that there is no concern whatsoever about an exit.

“You don’t get any details! Unfortunately, I find it difficult to calculate the details of the points difference, and I don’t remember them either.”

Earlier in the season, in April, Marko took part in an interview with Sky Germany and was asked about his feelings on Verstappen’s future.

He said: “The concern is great. As I said, improvements have to come in the near future so that he has a car with which he can win again.

“We have to create a basis with a car so that he can fight for the world championship.”

It’s fascinating that despite Verstappen being further away in the standings now than he was two months ago, Marko is now more confident that his star driver will stay at Red Bull for next season.

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Verstappen’s future is a constant source of discussion in the paddock this season.

Fans have become so used to the Dutchman winning that any shift away from that pattern is going to raise questions.

Marko becoming more confident that Verstappen is going to stay and not activate his get-out clause is fascinating and suggests he might know more about the 27-year-old’s plans than he’s letting on.

Bernie Ecclestone hopes Verstappen will stay at Red Bull next season, and during his era in charge of Formula 1, he might have tried to engineer that outcome.

Horner and Marko will be desperate for Verstappen to stay, with so many drivers now proving that Red Bull’s most recent cars are impossible to drive unless you’re the four-time world champion.