Max Verstappen risked ‘s**t’ relationship with Red Bull boss by ignoring calls
Max Verstappen has revealed that he risked having a ‘s**t relationship’ with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko during the early stages of his career by repeatedly ignoring the Austrian’s phone calls early in the morning.
As the head of Red Bull’s driver development program, Marko played a pivotal role in promoting a 17-year-old Verstappen directly into F1 from the Formula 3 European championship back in 2015, moving him into the Toro Rosso team alongside current Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz.
After an impressive rookie campaign, Verstappen was promoted into the Red Bull team just four races into the 2016 season, replacing Daniil Kyvat. He duly won on his debut in Barcelona before establishing his position as team leader by seeing off the threat of team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Talking to Motorsport-Magazin about the early stages of his relationship with Marko, Verstappen explained: “I just didn’t answer [his calls]. I thought to myself, I’m not going to answer the phone at that time, I’m still asleep.
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“I then simply called him back at 10 AM. or whenever. At some point, I think he understood that I wouldn’t answer his calls at 7.30 or 8.00 AM either. I think he also likes that in a way because you’ve set your boundaries and he’s the same.”
The three-time world champion went further to describe his personal connection to the Austrian advisor, describing it as “very honest, very straightforward, very open,” before adding: “That’s how I’ve approached my entire career anyway: If it’s s**t, it’s s**t and if it’s good, it’s good. There’s nothing in between. It’s either s**t or it’s good.”
Marko was rewarded for placing his faith in Verstappen. After five frustrating years of feeding off scraps in the shadow of Lewis Hamilton, the Dutchman claimed his first-ever Drivers’ Championship title in 2021 following a titanic battle that went down to the final lap of the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
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Since then, Verstappen has flexed his muscles, dispatching the short-lived threat of Ferrari and Charles Leclerc to claim his second World Championship in 2022 before breaking record after record en route to an uncontested third title in 2023.
Verstappen discussed his affection for the Red Bull crew at the FIA Prize Gala, stating: “When you’re travelling around so much all over the world you want to also do it with a great group of people and we definitely have that at Red Bull.”
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