Marko declares F1 2025 title ‘impossible’ after latest Red Bull defeat
Max Verstappen sits 97 points off the World Championship lead at the summer break stage.
Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko has declared a title challenge to be “impossible” for the remainder of the year, with McLaren the runaway leaders.
Max Verstappen finished ninth in the Hungarian Grand Prix, marking only the second time in the last 65 races that the reigning World Champion has taken the chequered flag outside the top six on the road.
Red Bull title ‘impossible, clearly’ after ‘inferior’ Hungarian GP showing
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Lando Norris headed a seventh McLaren one-two of the season as he closed the gap to Oscar Piastri in the Drivers’ standings to nine points, as Formula 1 heads into its summer break.
In finishing ninth, Verstappen was 72 seconds behind Norris at the chequered flag, having previously declared his belief that he will struggle to win another race in the 2025 season, while Yuki Tsunoda started from the pit lane and finished 17th on Sunday.
With McLaren holding more than double the points total of any other team, and Verstappen now 97 points off the pace in the Drivers’ Championship, Marko was asked about what title prospects remain this season.
“It’s impossible, clearly,” he replied to media including PlanetF1.com.
More on the Hungarian GP from PlanetF1.com
? Hungarian GP: Norris wins as FIA launch investigation over Verstappen, Hamilton incident
? F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates
Describing Red Bull‘s performance at the Hungaroring as a whole, he added his belief that it was “inferior, but I think one stop would have been better, because overtaking was really difficult.
“So maybe sixth or fifth [was possible], but the speed, which was funny, two or three laps, [Verstappen] was doing the same laps like the leaders, 1:19.5, but we believe we know what went wrong.”
Marko confirmed the issue with Red Bull was regarding tyres, but is not a problem that is expected to have been circuit-specific.
He added: “The first stops, the tyres were gone, and the second stop, we thought we could overtake. But as we saw for a couple of laps, yes, the speed was there, but then it was over.”
Verstappen also faces an FIA investigation after his overtake on Lewis Hamilton at Turn 4, with the Ferrari driver taking to the run-off area as the Dutch driver looked to take the inside line.
Asked for his thoughts on the investigation, he replied simply: “I don’t understand it.”
A four-week gap will now take place in the Formula 1 schedule, before the season resumes at Zandvoort at the end of August.
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