Marko: 'Hopefully Max serves his contract to '28 at all'

Formula 1 recently presented the calendar for the 2024 season. With 24 scheduled Grands Prix, it will be the busiest season ever. Max Verstappen has said on several occasions that he does not want so many races at all. Helmut Marko therefore wonders whether the time will not come sooner than expected that the two-time world champion retires from F1.

Marko spoke to Austria's Oe24 about the fuller calendar and Verstappen's comments: "Max doesn't just say something like that. I hope he serves his contract, which runs until 2028, until the end. Who knows and maybe one day he will come and tell us: 'Thanks, that's it'," the 80-year-old Red Bull Racing adviser said.

Verstappen has already won 43 Grands Prix in his career and is well on his way to his third title. He is only 25, so records like most world titles and Grand Prix victories could potentially be broken by him. So whether - with this fact in mind - he would have his ongoing commitment dissolved earlier? Marko responds to the question: "Let's see how everything develops. In 2026 there will be new regulations, that could make everything different."

A big unknown factor, for example, is how the Red Bull Powertrains - the in-house-built power units - will fare once they are in the back of the Red Bull from '26. Competitors are no doubt hoping the project fails and Red Bull loses its edge. "I think that is wishfull thinking," Marko responded to the Austrian medium.