Montoya: Marko has realized ‘he has no power anymore’

Former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya believes that outgoing Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko isn’t leaving Formula 1 because he has run out of passion – he’s leaving because he has run out of power.

In the Colombian’s view, Red Bull’s long-time kingmaker found himself increasingly sidelined within a shifting corporate hierarchy, reduced from feared decision-maker to advisory figurehead, and ultimately unwilling to stay on once his authority began to evaporate.

With Christian Horner fired, Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley gone, and Red Bull clearly resetting for the 2026 regulation era, Montoya believes Marko saw the writing on the wall. The old order was finished. Control was moving elsewhere.

A Red Bull power shift

Marko had insisted his retirement stemmed from frustration after Max Verstappen narrowly missed out on a fifth straight world title in Abu Dhabi. But Montoya believes that explanation barely scratches the surface.

“As well as Christian and Helmut, they lost Jonathan Wheatley to Audi. And Adrian Newey left a year ago,” the Colombian told Grosvenor Casinos.

“From what you hear, Austria wants to get more involved and run the team,” he revealed. “That’s a double-edged sword.

“If they get more control of the team, then it becomes a dictatorship running a team. I don’t like using that word, but there’ll be one way of doing things, one direction, under one leadership.”

To Montoya, Red Bull’s transformation from a racer-led outfit into a tightly managed corporate structure is where the friction begins.

“You need one guy making decisions, whether it’s the right one or wrong one,” he added.

“When you start involving big corporations, then all of a sudden every decision needs a meeting. And everybody has a different opinion, and they start looking at it from the budget point of view and the marketing point of view.”

‘He realized he had no power anymore’

For decades, Marko was untouchable – the gatekeeper of Red Bull’s driver programme and a central authority in team decisions. Montoya believes that autonomy evaporated under the new regime.

“I think Helmut realized he had no power anymore,” the 50-year-old said.

“He had full control of the drivers. He had full control of the decisions. And I think he realised now that anything he wants to do needs to be approved. He got to a point where he said to himself, ‘I’m not going to be anybody’s employee.’”

The former Williams and McLaren driver paints the picture of a man who had spent years ruling freely, suddenly boxed in by approvals, oversight and second-guessing.

“It’s really hard when you have had autonomy and then you lose all that,” he pointed out. “Everybody’s going to question everything.”

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Rumours, Montoya suggests, only underline how abruptly Marko’s authority may have been clipped.

“There are rumors going around that supposedly he had signed an F2 driver, Alex Dunne, the Irish driver, but then had to renege on the contract,” he said.

“He left McLaren, signed with Red Bull, and a week later Helmut apparently called him to say, ‘Sorry, you’re out.’”

And another alleged flashpoint, if true, would be vintage Marko – decisive, unilateral, and increasingly unwelcome in a new corporate order.

“The other rumor is that he signed Lindblad without anybody’s consent. I’m not surprised at all by that. It was now or never,” Montoya concluded.

Whether “dictatorship” is too strong a word or not, Montoya’s verdict is unmistakable: Marko didn’t lose interest in Formula 1. He lost power – and at Red Bull, that was reason enough to walk away.

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