Marko laughs at McLaren boss' claims: 'Wolff said the same in 2021'

Referring to Red Bull’s late-season development push that preceded its double title win in 2022, and their outright domination in 2023, Marko recalled when speaking to Motorsport: "Toto Wolff said the same in 2021.”

While McLaren halted upgrades to fully shift focus to the all-new 2026 regulations, Red Bull has pressed ahead with updates.

After introducing a new floor in Monza and a front wing in Singapore, the team arrived in Mexico with another floor update and bodywork modifications to improve cooling, Marko claimed, a known key factor at high altitude.

“The upgrade mainly targeted cooling efficiency, because of the thinner air here,” Marko explained. When asked about the updated floor, he added: “Yes, but that’s all related, that’s part of the same package with the cooling adjustments.”

Only Max Verstappen ran the new components in Mexico, while Yuki Tsunoda continued with the previous specification.

Addressing Stella's suggestions that Red Bull could be sacrificing their 2026 season for a chance at success in 2025, Marko couldn't help but laugh the idea off.

“It was the same story in 2021. Toto was really worried that we wouldn’t be competitive in 2022,” he said.

Red Bull went on to dominate the first two seasons under the current regulations, and despite the added challenge of building its own power unit for 2026, Marko insists the approach remains unchanged.

“It’s part of our philosophy that whenever the rules change, we work as long as we can to stay competitive,” he said.

“That was the same for the last three regulation changes. So if they don’t have anything else to worry about, then okay,” he concluded.

According to the McLaren team boss Red Bull would be risking their 2026 chances for a shot at helping Verstappen win the title in 2025, a completely different approach to McLaren's, whose target remains to be a championship contender for many years to come. You can read his full coments here.

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