F1 Off To Red Bull Ring
Posted on June 27, 2025
Max slipping out of contention
FORMULA ONE IS BACK IN EUROPE for the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend, all primed for a hot time at the Red Bull Ring and the first of four races in the space of six weeks leading up to the summer break.
And Red Bull is desperate for victory at their home track, bringing a much-needed upgrade this week, which then will be refined for the following Great Britain Grand Prix July 4-6.
“But if that doesn’t work, things will get difficult in the world championship. And it’s not as if things aren’t difficult enough already,” the wily Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing’s Motorsport Adviser, told Kleine Zeitung.
Helmut firmly believes the already slim chances of winning the 2025 Formula 1 title will diminish even further if its scheduled upgrade is not up to scratch.
It’s fair to say the chances of Red Bull cashing in on the Constructors’ money bonanza are fast fading, having plummeted to fourth in the championship – more than 200 points behind McLaren.
But four-time champ Max Verstappen is still an outside contender for the drivers’ title, due to wins at Suzuka and Imola – sitting third behind title leader Aussie Oscar Piastri and McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
That dramatic on-track collision in Canada between Lando and Oscar robbed the team of points which could have further stymied Max ‘s chances.
Unfortunate teammate Yuki Tsunoda has contributed far too few points so far to the 2025 championship tally. He needs a stellar turnaround to retain his seat.
There’s already a seemingly impossible 43-point gap to Oscar for Max to bridge in the remaining 14 races of the season and the RB21 has been seriously tricky to drive. Just ask Yuki and Liam Lawson!
But only Max has been able to tame the Red Bull car and race anywhere near the front.
Title Riding on Upgrade
Helmut Marko firmly believes Max’s hope of a fifth consecutive title hinges on the planned upgrade in Austria, with the team set to switch focus to the development of its 2026 car by the end of July.
The loss of key staff members, including design guru Adrian Newey and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, has not helped the situation.
Helmut said Red Bull has been unable to fix some of the underlying weaknesses with the RB21 car, with its narrow operational window leaving the team off the pace at most circuits on the calendar.
“We’ve been seeing the same tendencies in the car for two years now,” he explained. “It jumps over kerbs, and has a tendency to understeer when turning, which then turns into oversteer. In other words, the balance on the rear axle isn’t right.
“But if we’re within a very narrow working window and the Spielberg track suits us, like in Jeddah or Suzuka – Imola and Montreal weren’t too bad either – then it’s fine. But the working window is extremely narrow.”
Just before his 82nd birthday in April, Helmut surprised when he anointed four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel as the “ideal successor” for his role at Red Bull, as he ponders retiring from F1 in the coming years.
Sebastian was one of Helmut’s early proteges.
Helmut: a sporting legend
The mighty Martini Racing Porsche 917K, Le Mans 1971
Red Bull’s feisty Austrian Helmut Marko is nothing short of a motorsport legend – from Le Mans winner to Red Bull’s formidable talent scout.
His is a career of fascinating tales of resilience, reinvention, and razor-sharp talent spotting, beginning with his skill as a promising racing driver in the late 1960s.
Helmut earned his doctorate in law from the University of Graz in 1967 but quickly shifted gears toward motorsport. He’s a survivor of F1’s most dangerous era and a key architect of its modern talent pipeline.
His crowning achievement came in 1971, when he won the 24 Hours of Le Mans alongside Dutch ace Gijs van Lennep in a Martini Racing Porsche 917K, setting a distance record that stood for nearly 40 years.
Their car was a short-tail version of the 917, notable for its magnesium chassis, which made it exceptionally light—about 40 kg lighter than standard.
That weight saving helped them set a distance record of 5,335.313 km at an average speed of 222.304 km/h, a record that stood for nearly four decades.
Reports are that the 917K was a beast: flat-12 engine, over 600 horsepower, and capable of hitting more than 360 km/h (224 mph) down the Mulsanne Straight—before chicanes were added.
Helmut did most of the driving during that race, as van Lennep was battling a cold.
It’s one of those legendary Le Mans wins that blends raw speed, mechanical fragility, and sheer endurance.
The Austrian also competed in Formula One from 1971 to 1972, driving for teams like Bonnier and BRM.
His F1 career was cut short at the 1972 French Grand Prix, when a stone thrown up by another car pierced his visor, blinding him in his left eye – that freak accident ended his racing days aged just 29!
The Strategist Behind Red Bull
After retiring from racing, Marko pivoted to team management, founding RSM Marko in 1989, which evolved into the Red Bull Junior Team by 1999.
This program became the gold standard for driver development, producing stars like Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz Jr., and Max Verstappen.
Since 2005, Marko has served as Red Bull Racing’s motorsport advisor, playing a pivotal role in their six Constructors’ Championships and multiple Drivers’ titles.
His no-nonsense, results-driven approach has made him both respected and controversial – known for being brutally honest and unapologetically old-school.
Marko also owns several hotels in Graz, in southeastern Austria the capital of the federal state of Styria and the second-largest city in the country after Vienna.
Its historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, surrounded by the Styrian Alps, blending old-world charm with modern flair and renowned for its universities.
Partner Christian Horner has been with Red Bull Racing since 2005, when he was appointed as Team Principal and CEO at the age of 31.
Helmut and Christian have overseen Red Bull’s rise from a midfield outfit to a dominant powerhouse, guiding them to six Constructors’ Championships and eight Drivers’ titles.
Daniel surfaces in Monaco
Daniel and mates
Daniel Ricciardo has maintained a low profile since leaving F1 last season but turned up in Monaco last weekend with his good mate Australian Olympic snowboarding star Scott James (pictured left).
They teamed up with Mercedes’ George Russell and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri for a friendly game of Padel in Monte Carlo.
(If you don’t know what Padel is, it’s a fast-paced racquet sport that blends the best of tennis and squash into one highly social, addictive game. It’s typically played in doubles on an enclosed court about a third the size of a tennis court, with glass or mesh walls that are part of the game—just like in squash. It’s been popular in Europe since the late 1960s and is becoming quite the rage in Australia).
Action aplenty at the Syrian Mountain
The 4326m Red Bull Ring circuit track has the fewest corners of any track on the F1 calendar making the Austrian Grand Prix race one of the most action-packed of the year.
Those 10 corners make for the shortest lap time – 1’02”939, set by Valtteri Bottas in a Mercedes in 2020.
The Red Bull Ring ranks second overall after Spa-Francorchamps in terms of elevation change, with a 63.5m difference between the highest and lowest points on the track.
The three sectors are very different from one another: the first is all uphill, with two straights, while the second begins with heavy braking for turn 3, before running downhill to the entry for turn 7.
From there the track again climbs slightly, followed by another descent to the longest straight and the final two high-speed corners. There are three DRS zones,
The venue gets plenty of use, with racing on both four and two wheels, so the track is pretty well rubbered-in right from the start of the weekend.
This year’s race is the 38th edition of the Austrian Grand Prix, while Formula 1 celebrates its 40th appearance in Styria.
Styrian Mountain Location
Spielberg, Lower Austria, Austria
Early summer can bring high temperatures, but the Styrian mountain location and surrounding forests often cause rapid changes in the weather with rain clouds building up quickly. Wild weather reports were issued Thursday warning of 100kmh winds.
Challenge is managing overheating
The choice of compounds the teams can use at the Austrian Grand Prix is the same as last year’s – C3 as Hard, C4 as Medium, and C5 as Soft.
The track surface at the Red Bull Ring is rather old and is highly abrasive, but wear is not a key factor.
In 2025 it returns to the standard one, with three free practice sessions, two on Friday and one on Saturday, followed by qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday.
With very few corners, the track is not particularly severe in terms of the lateral forces
The Spielberg facility is owned by the Austrian energy drink company and the Grand Prix has been run to the Sprint format for the past three years.
RACE SCHEDULE
PERTH WA TIME
AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX
Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Styria June 27 – June 29
P1
Friday 27th June 19:30
P2
Friday 27th June 23:00
P3
Saturday 28th June 18:30
QUALIFYING
Saturday 28th June 22:00
RACE
Sunday 29th June 21:00
NEXT EVENT
GREAT BRITAIN GRAND PRIX
Silverstone July 4 – July 6
EDITED by AC
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