Helmut Marco believes there is already a slight chance of winning Red Bull’s 2025 Formula One title.
Red Bull, which already brought revised front wings, floors and side pods during the run of a recent European race, is planning more updates at Spielberg this weekend to fill the gap with the front.
While there was little chance of winning the Constructors Championship, the team came in fourth in the Championship, over 200 points behind McLaren, while Max Verstappen is an external contender for the driver’s title.
Thanks to their victory at Suzuka and Imola, Dutchman finished third in the title race behind McLaren Duo Oskar Piastri and Randnoris, scoring a 43-point gap in the remaining 14 races.
Red Bull adviser Marco has requested five consecutive titles to be planned for Austria, and will switch focus to 2026 car development by the end of July.
“We’re getting the latest in Austria, but it’s even more refined for Silverstone,” Marco told Klein Zeyton. “But if that doesn’t work, things will be difficult at the World Championships.
The RB21 is notoriously difficult to drive as Verstappen, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda have expressed concerns about their handling characteristics.
Only Verstappen was able to tame the car and race anywhere near the front. Lawson was demoted from the team after the weekend.
Marco said Red Bull was unable to fix some of the underlying weaknesses of the RB21, and its narrow operating window left the team out of pace on most circuits in the calendar.
“We’ve seen the same trends in the car for two years,” the 81-year-old explained. “It tends to be understood when jumping over the curb and spinning, and that tends to turn into oversteer. In other words, the rear axle balance is not correct.
“But if we were inside a very narrow work window and the trucks suit us, Imola and Montreal weren’t too bad, like Jeddah and Suzuka – that’s fine. But the work windows are very narrow.”
In an interview in March, Marco said he views four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel as the “ideal successor” to his role in Red Bull as he is pondering his retirement from Formula 1 in the coming years.
But the focus remains on turning Red Bull’s Formula One team amidst a competitive struggle and the loss of key staff such as design guru Adrian Newey and sports director Jonathan Wheatley.
“My contract will run until the end of 2026,” he revealed. “Now, the main focus is getting the team back on track for a victory.
“Many of them rely on technology despite having set-breaks at the pit stop. But I understand that. The last few stops worked and the strategy was good again.
“For us to have a chance against McLaren, everything has to be 100%, but that’s not easy, because we actually only have one driver.