Formula 1 News: Red Bull ‘laughing again’ after Horner axe – Marko
(GMM) Just days after Red Bull resigned itself to being always outclassed by McLaren in 2025, Max Verstappen silenced the doubters with a crushing 20-second win at Monza.
“It was 19, no?” runner-up Lando Norris smirked. “I just don’t want any misinformation.”
Yet the scale of Verstappen’s dominance stunned the paddock. “Today, one driver made everyone look ridiculous,” admitted Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
Norris, however, was in no mood to celebrate Verstappen’s feat from pole, having branded him an “idiot” for first-corner aggression.
In the post-race cool-down room, the tension was obvious, and asked later if Max had raced fairly, the Briton shrugged: “It’s not my decision in the end. Got nothing to say. It was good.”
Verstappen refused to be drawn. “Not at all,” he told Viaplay. “There’s no point to it. None of that matters anymore.”
Instead, all eyes were on Red Bull’s remarkable turnaround under recent new leadership. “At one point, it felt like McLaren would have a big advantage on every circuit. It’s fantastic to get this win now,” said new team boss Laurent Mekies.
Dr Helmut Marko hailed the shift, pointing directly at Mekies in the fresh new post-Christian Horner era.
“He steered the team in the right direction,” the 82-year-old told reporters. “The engineers kept pushing the car to its limits. They did a great job. The atmosphere at Red Bull is back. We’re really happy.”
Marko even noted that McLaren boss Andrea Stella came to congratulate him personally. “And rightly so,” he smiled. “We’re rivals, but not enemies.
“This is the right atmosphere between the teams now.”
The Austrian insists Mekies-led culture change has been key. “Two races ago in Hungary we looked really bad. Now we saw total dominance. Last year Monza was one of our worst weekends. Now we’re very optimistic.
“Laurent has brought a new approach – how we go about racing. That’s clearly paying off.”
The “rebirth” is not just philosophical, Marko told De Telegraaf.
“We’re using our full potential now,” he said. “In the past we never ran at full engine power on Friday. Now we were much more at the limit. That’s partly Laurent, and also a new floor on Max’s car which worked well.
“We also listen more carefully to our driver. Max has over 200 races – a wealth of experience – and we rely on that as much as data.”
Verstappen agreed. “With Laurent having an engineering background, he’s asking the right questions. I definitely felt already in Zandvoort we took a step, and here another that felt better.”
Asked pointedly by Bild if the boost is linked to Horner’s departure, Marko was blunt: “Absolutely. We’re laughing again! The old Red Bull spirit is back.”
The title is still out of reach – Verstappen trails Oscar Piastri by 94 points – but the mood has changed. “I think we can win a few more races,” said Marko. “We’ve put the championship aside, but the Red Bull feeling and spirit are back. We’re back on the right track.”