Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has played down the impact Max Verstappen's pending fatherhood will have on his F1 form. Verstappen announced late last year that he was expecting his first child with partner Kelly Piquet. Speaking to RacingNews365 earlier this year, 24 Hours of Le Mans legend Tom Kristensen predicted having a child will alter Verstappen's approach to racing. But Marko, who has worked with Verstappen for over a decade, does not believe it will be the case. "Don't worry, it [fatherhood] does not affect him," Marko stated to oe24 . “He will also run his program at home, no matter if there is a child screaming!” Red Bull completed its pre-season plans in Bahrain last week, but endured a difficult test as it set the fewest laps of any team. Marko has maintained that McLaren is leading the F1 pack ahead of the opening round in Australia but predicted rival teams are not far behind. “You could see that McLaren is in front, followed by us, Ferrari and Mercedes,” he said. “These four teams will compete for the title. In any case, it will be much closer together than in previous years. “We dominated in the early stages [in 2024]. Then we got into trouble, but Max was so superior as a driver that he confidently took the world title. “Now Lando Norris becomes even more dangerous and it will be exciting what will happen at Ferrari. We know that Charles Leclerc has a great qualifying record and that Lewis Hamilton is still capable of exceptional performances. “In any case, our goal is to win a fifth title in a row. We did not succeed with Sebastian Vettel."
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