Helmut Marko has revealed how his farewell phone conversation with Max Verstappen went, with the Dutchman being the ‘closest’ driver connection of his career.

Marko has left Red Bull after over 20 years, and has worked with a great number of drivers during that tenure due to his remit of heading up the team’s junior driver programme.

Helmut Marko: Last conversation with Max Verstappen was ‘melancholy’

Marko’s long career as an advisor and talent spotter for Red Bull included the highlights of spotting the potential of four-time F1 World Champions Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, both of whom have won all their titles with the Milton Keynes-based squad.

With the Dutch driver remaining with Red Bull for 2026, he will be without Marko’s presence for the first time in his career, as Marko and Red Bull have split following the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

Sources have indicated to PlanetF1.com that Marko’s relationship with Oliver Mintzlaff and Laurent Mekies had deteriorated over recent months, although the official line from Red Bull GmbH has been that Marko has decided to walk away from F1.

Following on from this decision, Marko revealed that he had spoken with Verstappen on the phone to discuss his departure, with the Dutch driver having been originally scheduled to be at the same dinner in Dubai at which Marko informed Mintzlaff of his decision.

“I didn’t discuss [my decision] with anyone, but called Oliver Mintzlaff, the manager responsible at Red Bull, in Dubai and asked if we could meet briefly,” Marko told Austria’s ORF.

“A kind of championship dinner was planned. And we met before the dinner. I told him what I wanted.

“We discussed for a while whether a partial solution was still possible. I said that if we were going to do it, we had to do it completely.

“That happened ad hoc. The other shareholder from the Thai family [Yoovidhya] was also present. But it was all very amicable and went very well.

“Max should have been there, too. There were some problems with his flight, so he wasn’t there.

“I called him the next day. It wasn’t a normal conversation. There was a certain melancholy in the air. He said he never could have imagined that he would ever achieve such success.”

Ruminating on the dramatic end to the F1 2025 season, which saw Verstappen narrowly beaten to a fifth consecutive title by McLaren’s Lando Norris, Marko said he would likely have chosen to walk away regardless of the outcome.

“We had a difficult season this year,” Marko explained.

“It was particularly bumpy in the middle. We were 104 points behind in Holland. Then we started a comeback that was certainly unique. But unfortunately, it didn’t work out in the last race. We lost the championship by two points.

“Although this comeback was unique, it was still a very bitter disappointment. It hit us particularly hard. Even after the race, I felt that something had been lost.

“I then stayed in Dubai on Monday. That’s when I made my decision. Even if we had won, it would have been a good reason to leave this job. But now, in hindsight, because we lost, it’s also a good point.”

Verstappen had previously made it clear, in early 2024, to Red Bull that Marko’s continuation in his role had been imperative for his own continuance with the squad, but circumstances have changed completely since then, with an overhaul of management as Mekies replaced Christian Horner as CEO and team boss in mid-2025.

With Marko choosing to walk away at a time when F1 enters an entirely new era with new chassis and power unit regulations, in which Red Bull becomes a fully autonomous manufacturer in its own right, the Austrian reflected on his relationship with Verstappen.

“The connection was certainly a very intense one, or the most intimate,” he said, with Marko having been involved in the decisions to give the likes of Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastien Buemi, Jean-Eric Vergne, Carlos Sainz, and Pierre Gasly a shot within the Red Bull F1 operations.

“It was the closest connection I’ve ever had with a driver.”

Aside from that, Marko doesn’t believe Verstappen has yet reached his peak as a driver.

“The fascinating thing is that with each passing year, Max Verstappen became faster, more mature, better,” he said.

“And to this day, I can’t see an end to this development, even though he is already the best driver. That was the fascinating thing.

“We hardly ever had any differences of opinion. There were a few silly things, especially in the early stages. But the more successful he became, the simpler his approach became. He has become much calmer.

“He hardly ever has any lapses or outbursts, which were, of course, present in the early stages. And he has become an incredibly perfect or incredible personality for his age.

“Max has become such a personality that, despite his relatively young age, he leads a team and can lead it the way he does.”

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