Helmut Marko was an interested viewer during last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, and the former Red Bull advisor admitted his pulse went racing at the start of F1’s season opener.
While Mercedes locked out the front row, the early laps provided a flicker of hope for the chasing pack. A lightning start from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc saw the Monegasque challenge George Russell, while Kimi Antonelli stumbled, falling into the clutches of the midfield.
But it was the sight of Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar snapping at the heels of the leaders and Racing Bulls Arvid Lindblad in hot pursuit just behind that boosted Marko’s heart rate.
"My pulse was racing because I knew the start would bring some surprises," the 82-year-old told Sport.de, his competitive fire clearly unextinguished.
"When two Red Bull cars were at the front in the first lap, my pulse definitely went up."
The Mercedes Advantage
However, that excitement was short-lived. Once the W17s found their rhythm, the gap to the field became a chasm.
Antonelli’s recovery drive, in particular, left Marko convinced that Mercedes has moved into a different league, describing the car as being "like it was on rails."
“Antonelli dropped back to seventh place at the start and then drove back to second place relatively quickly. He drove roughly one second faster than the rest in this phase,” Marko noted.
“Without the superstart that the Ferraris made, this situation would never have happened. Thanks to their small turbo, we can hope that this starting performance will also be there at the next races.”
The illusion of a close fight evaporated as soon as the batteries were charged and the aero settled.
“The first laps were a good show, but after the Mercedes no longer took part and drove away, it was clear what dominance and advantage Mercedes has,” he concluded.
‘Overtaking has not improved’
While the pace of the Mercedes impressed him, the mechanical soul of the new regulations did not. As the 50:50 power split forced drivers into a game of strategic lift-and-coast to manage their energy levels, Marko’s critique turned sharp.
To him, the spectacle in Melbourne was a shadow of "classic" racing, driven more by battery percentages than driver bravado.
“Overtaking in the classic sense has not improved in any way,” Marko argued, unimpressed by the flurry of position changes.
“There were no real overtaking manoeuvres in the sense that someone is on the brakes later or has come out of the corner.”
The most jarring aspect for the veteran was the auditory and physical reality of energy management on the world’s fastest straights.
“What is most disturbing is when you hear someone take their foot off the gas on the straight. That’s hard to connect with the DNA of Formula 1,” he said.
Despite his scathing review of the current "overtaking" dynamic, Marko isn't calling for a total scrap of the rules just yet – though he isn't planning on reading the technical manual anytime soon.
“It will certainly get better,” he insisted, while offering a final, blunt assessment of the 2026 rulebook: it is “far too complicated” as “all that in detail was too stupid for me.”
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