Helmut Marko's Red Bull exit fuelled by 'recent antics' - report

Helmut Marko's recent actions behind the scenes at Red Bull resulted in a likely departure from the team, according to a report.

In the hours after the season finale in Abu Dhabi, it emerged that Marko's future was far from certain with the Red Bull team as he declared he would “sleep over it”.

However, it has since developed that he is likely to wave goodbye to Red Bull at the end of hte year, with various outlets reporting that this will be the case.

De Limburger is one of several publications that have confirmed Marko's exit, but the Dutch outlet has shed further light on the reasons behind the move.

This includes the signing of Arvid Lindblad, who has confirmed his spot on the F1 grid for the 2026 season with Racing Bulls.

The report states that Marko signed Lindblad on his own initiative, which was not completely aligned with other members of the Red Bull management team.

Even more strikingly, however, De Limburger reports that Marko also signed a contract with Alex Dunne.

“Marko knew that it had already been decided by shareholders, team boss Laurent Mekies and sporting director Mintzlaff that Dunne would not be an option for the junior program. Without anyone knowing it, Marko signed the Irishman anyway," the report reads.

It was a situation that did not go down well inside Red Bull, and Marko was immediately instructed to terminate the contract.

Dunne, who left the McLaren F1 programme earlier this year, was never presented as a new Red Bull junior - and the team reportedly had to fork out a significant fee to get out of the contract.

The Austrian was in the spotlight once again after the Qatar Grand Prix after accusing Kimi Antonelli of deliberately handing over position to Lando Norris amid a tense title fight. Antonelli lost momentum through a mistake, gifting a crucial two points to Norris.

Marko was put under pressure from Red Bull to apologise, with Antonelli receiving over 1,000 nasty comments - including death threats - on social media. 

Marko's exit from Red Bull would continue the significant overhaul the team has gone through in recent times.

Following Jonathan Wheatley's exit last year, Adrian Newey and Christian Horner departed the squad earlier in the campaign - and it seems Marko is the next out the door.