Helmut Marko reveals Max Verstappen thought Red Bull promotion was a joke

Helmut Marko reveals Max Verstappen thought Red Bull promotion was a joke

Max Verstappen

Helmut Marko the current RedBull team adviser has recently shed light on how Max Verstappen was promoted to the senior team of RedBull. He has shared details that were known to only a few people around the RedBull team and Max’s family.

It has been published in Planetf1 that Helmut Marko during his interview said “That’s right, yes. Jos did realize something was going on and that Max might be driving for RedBull, but Max thought it was sheer nonsense.” In Max’s opinion, the idea of driving for the RedBull senior team was too much to fathom, given he was only 18 at that time, it is quite understandable.

Helmut Marko reminisced the incident over dinner in Austin this year

Helmut and Jos
Helmut and Jos

Helmut Marko has revealed that this year while he was having dinner in Austin with Max and his dad Jos, he brought the incident up and shared a few laughs with the two. He highlighted the fact that when he first asked Jos to meet him in Graz back then, he knew that Jos was aware something was going on and that there were talks of Max getting promoted to the RedBull senior team.

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Helmut further added that during the day there was a lot going on regarding talks and preparations and he was not able to talk to Jos. It was only after lunch that he was properly able to get down to business with Jos Verstappen and at that moment Max had also reached and he was surprised as to why he was also called to Graz.

Helmut, Jos, and Max
Helmut, Jos, and Max

They shared a good laugh about the incident and reminisced how Max thought it was total nonsense.

During the interview, he also said that the whole Max Verstappen idea was a big risk but insisted that during that time Max had good people around him to support him. He gave a special mention to his dad Jos and Verstappen’s co-manager Raymond Vermeulen.

At last, he rounded out the interview by saying that Max did well for Toro Rosso, and promoting him to the senior team was a logical move on part of the team.