Steiner predicts calmer days at Red Bull: “It’s a process that takes time”

After more than twenty years at Red Bull, the 2026 season will be the first for the Anglo-Austrian team without Helmut Marko, now former Consultant of the Milton Keynes company and Director of the Red Bull Junior Team. An exit from the scene, followed by the dismissal of Christian Horner during the championship, which surprised Günther Steiner, present in F1 from 2016 to 2023 as Team Principal of Haas. Tensions in Red Bull The manager from Bolzano, now in MotoGP as owner and CEO of Tech3, focused on Marko’s very strong statements in an interview given to De Telegraaf, focused in particular on the clash with Horner and on the decidedly tense climate created within the team. Steiner, at the same time, is convinced that calm can return to Red Bull, even if it will take patience: “I think it’s simply a process that takes a little time – he told Sport Krone – there has been turmoil at Red Bull for some time, probably even more than many had predicted. As for Doctor Marko, I think he left because of his age. I didn’t expect him to react that way again. But it’s good entertainment, isn’t it? I didn’t expect it to happen this way, I thought in fact he would announce his retirement after next season. He is certainly not getting any younger, and his constant travels in the Formula 1 circus have their impact in the long run. We will certainly hear more from Doctor Marko in the future, there is no need to worry”. Calmer with Mekies Having closed the chapter with Horner, Red Bull restarted its journey in the middle of the 2025 season driven by Laurent Mekies, chosen as the new Team Principal. With the French engineer at the helm, the team went from the crisis of results at the beginning of the year to the recovery of Verstappen on the McLaren drivers, with the Dutchman who came close to winning his fifth world title by just two points from Norris: “Some decisions were made at Red Bull, and that’s it, but I think things will calm down again with team principal Mekies – concluded Steiner – they have the best driver and a good team: the ingredients for success are all there. Time he will say what they will do with it.”