McLaren ‘A Second Faster’ Heading Into 2025 – Marko

Max Verstappen’s boss and mentor Dr Helmut Marko, as well as the Red Bull driver’s father Jos, both agree that the quadruple world champion is heading into the 2025 season without the fastest car.

Although the Christian Horner affair is still bubbling along in the background, Verstappen senior says he and his 27-year-old son still “have confidence” in Red Bull.

“But if things don’t go well,” Jos told Radio Joe, “it’s not Max.”

Speculation has been quietly burning for well over a year and counting that Verstappen might trigger a contract exit-clause and switch to Mercedes or Aston Martin for 2026.

It’s rumoured Adrian Newey has convinced Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll to offer Verstappen a long-term package that could be worth as much as a billion dollars.

“Adrian Newey is a pure racer and an intelligent person,” Red Bull advisor Marko told Servus TV. “The first thing he wants is the fastest driver.

“Max was offered the bait, but in the end Max just wants to win. Everyone in Formula 1 knows that Newey is a genius, but success doesn’t come overnight. He needs a good team around him.

“I don’t see Max leaving any time soon.”

But according to Jos Verstappen, it all depends on Red Bull’s 2025 car.

“Red Bull must continue to perform,” he said. “They must continue to build a good car – that is crucial.”

On the opening day of recent pre-season testing, Max initially enthused about the improvements made by Red Bull over the winter. “After that, they changed parts and so on,” Jos explains.

“He then found the feeling with the car less than before. They then went back to the first specification, but he did not get back the feeling he had on Wednesday.”

Jos wonders if Red Bull “do not fully understand the problem” or have “not done the right things” to address the handling issues of 2024.

“Let me put it this way,” Verstappen’s father added. “He was not satisfied.”

Marko is not hiding that Jos’ assessment is basically correct, but he thinks Max can cope anyway even if McLaren or one or two others are actually slightly quicker.

“Max Verstappen will still be the world champion of 2025,” he declared.

“Max does not necessarily have to have the fastest car – although he would of course like that. But he has to get used to fighting now. He can make up a lot, but not half a second,” added Marko.

“The goal for 2025 was to create a wider usable range for the car so that the drivers have more confidence,” said the Austrian. “We have succeeded in doing this, but not yet perfectly.”

And he admits that, based on the test in Bahrain, McLaren should easily win on Sunday.

“In the endurance runs, they were a second faster. If they can do that in Australia, which is a very different circuit and conditions, it will be a one-two for McLaren.

“McLaren was also clearly superior in the qualifying simulations, although they didn’t show it. They drove out and set the fastest first sector time, the fastest second sector time, and then they suddenly drove back into the pits,” he reported.

“They were also not at the top of the speed traps, which suggests that they were not yet driving with their full engine power. They were trying to hide.

“So we will see in Australia.”