Toto Wolff claims he’s gotten closer to Helmut Marko amidst tensions with Christian Horner

Helmut Marko has been pivotal in Red Bull's success in F1.

Toto Wolff claims he’s gotten closer to Helmut Marko amidst tensions with Christian Horner

Toto Wolff(L), Christian Horner(in circle), Helmut Marko(R), via IMAGO

Ever since the start of the 2024 season, the Red Bull stable has been under constant frenzy. The campaign began with allegations against its team principal, Christian Horner, who then refuted them. However, these shenanigans led to the fallout between Adrian Newey and the team. Now, Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, has revealed that his relations with Helmut Marko have grown warmer raising rumors yet again.

Red Bull recently revealed that they and Adrian Newey had decided to separate on a mutual agreement, with the design legend being freed from his duties from Q1 of 2025. This spooled up the rumors in the paddock regarding the possibility of star faces within the team considering a move elsewhere as rifts started to form due to power struggles.

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On the other hand, Toto Wolff has recently stated that he and Helmut Marko have got closer amid such struggles.

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We have become closer again in recent times. Despite the rivalry there are common values ​​for which we fight. With all the things that have happened in the last few months, we realized that we think the same way. I mean about the behavior of some people.
Toto Wolff said in an interview with OE24

The 52-year-old elaborated that despite the rivalry between the two manufacturers, and their vast history of feuds, they think alike. Furthermore, he took a jibe at Christian Horner‘s plight and claimed that he and his senior compatriot especially thought in the same way regarding the behavior of people. This statement has now given fire to the rumors of Marko moving to Mercedes, which had somewhat cooled down after the initial few rounds of the season.

Toto Wolff accepts Mercedes made a mistake with Lewis Hamilton in Monaco

Despite rumors regarding the Austrian’s transfer to Mercedes, the German manufacturer has not been up to the expected level in terms of performance on track recently. Moreover, a glimpse of this was witnessed in Monaco when Lewis Hamilton attempted to undercut Max Verstappen, which ultimately failed.

Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff
Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff (Via: IMAGO)

Subsequently, Mercedes supremo later revealed the mistake made by the team.

That was a miscommunication first between us on the pitwall that we got that wrong. It should have been an ‘out-lap critical'. But then there was a debate whether any out-lap would be enough from the new tyre and so the message he got was at best confusing but probably wrong. It should have been an ‘out-lap critical’ and the worry in the background was that if we thrashed that tyre in a single lap then what would happen later. But in summary, wrong message to Lewis, this was the team’s fault.
Toto Wolff said in an interview with PlanetF1

Wolff admitted there was a communication gap, and Hamilton should have been informed that the out-lap was critical. However, this information was not relayed to him, which cost the German marque an opportunity to leap ahead of the struggling Dutchman, which would have helped them in the constructor standings in the long run.

Despite the accountable response, Hamilton seemed upset by the Brackley-based squad. However, there is still a long way to go before the end of the season, and the Brit would be keen on giving a sweet end to the partnership between him and Mercedes before moving to Ferrari next season.

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