If you listen to Red Bull’s protagonists Max Verstappen and Helmut Marko, the Formula 1 competition could already be scared and anxious.
It’s freezing cold in the forests around Graz, but the sun is shining from a cloudless sky. Red Bull chief adviser Helmut Marko (79) is in his element. With a heavy chainsaw he whips his trees into shape. There is no better fitness training for the honorary citizen from Graz, whose mood suits the current weather only too well.
Although the first test drives of the season will take place in three weeks, the lawyer is as cool as ever shortly before the start of the season and his mood suits the bright sun. “Everything is going smoothly with the preparations, everything is on schedule,” he adds with satisfaction F1-Insider.com fest.
In fact, Red Bull’s chief motorsport advisor is so worryingly relaxed about the competition that he hasn’t even jetted off to New York, where the new car was unveiled. That means: Red Bull is optimally prepared for the season, the second title defense of Red Bull’s child prodigy Max Verstappen seems to be nothing in the way.
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Max Verstappen happy with RB19 rollout
The double champion himself seems to see it that way. After the private rollout of the RB19 at Silverstone on Friday, he grinned happily into the camera of Red Bull’s social media team: “Hey guys, I’ve just been on the RB19 for the first time, of course it’s just a film day but it was a good first one impression I got. Everything worked really well and smoothly. That’s exactly what you want on a day like this, and now of course I’m excited about Bahrain.” That’s also where the fans will be able to see the new car for the first time.
Red Bull: With Ford we have come full circle
What is special about this pre-season winter for Red Bull: It is the first time that Verstappen and Marko are looking so calmly into the near future. In previous years, problems with the tests often made the start of the season difficult. The cars designed by design genius Adrian Newey were almost always immature, and Red Bull had to catch up with the competition initially – albeit often successfully. Last year there was an overweight car that, according to Marko, was missing up to five tenths of a second per lap in the first third of the season.
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“The car only reached the weight limit in the second half of the season. That was one of the reasons why Max (Verstappen; ed.) made the march through afterwards.” As a reminder: The Dutchman not only won his second title in a row, but also set a new record with 15 wins of the season.
Alone: There is another reason for the doctor’s good mood. A successor to technology partner Honda was found in Ford. From 2026, the successors of the legendary company founder will be working with Red Bull Powertrain, the Austrians’ own high-tech engine factory at the team’s headquarters in Milton Keynes. Marko: “It’s a good deal with Ford. I was in Detroit for it, the talks went well and harmoniously from the start. We wrapped things up pretty quickly. From 2026 the engine will be called Red Bull Ford. For me, this closes a circle.”
What Marko means: Working with Ford is a tradition for him. His first memories go back more than fifty years. “In 1971 I drove the legendary Ford Capri RS touring car races. He was extremely fast but difficult to control, with a rear that constantly swerved. But you could outrun any Porsche with him.”
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Red Bull had its first partnership with Ford in Formula 1 in 1995. At that time, the Sauber Ford works team, Red Bull’s main sponsor of the team, was driven by the two ex-Mercedes juniors Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Karl Wendlinger. The coloring of the 2026 car could tie in with the design of the time.
At the end of 2004 Red Bull took over Ford’s Formula 1 team Jaguar. Marko: “It was our start in Formula 1 with our own team. Unlike this time, however, we did not negotiate in the USA, but in England. There was the headquarters of Ford Europe. It was the beginning of our success story. That’s why you can really say: We’ve come full circle.”
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