Helmut Marko has had his last laugh after Max Verstappen’s criticism and “dangerous” remarks

Helmut Marko showed faith in Max Verstappen by allowing him to become F1’s youngest driver ever at Red Bull even while critics slammed the decision

Helmut Marko has had the last laugh despite once receiving backlash over Max Verstappen being too young to race in Formula One. The Red Bull boss ignored claims that throwing a teenage Verstappen into the deep end was “dangerous”, and said it was “a satisfaction” to see the Dutchman enjoy instant success.

It is hard to believe that Verstappen began his F1 journey a decade ago. Aged 27, he has won four world championships, having sealed his latest triumph with a fifth placed finish at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Sunday.

The prodigious racing talent was signed by Toro Rosso in 2015 at the behest of Marko – the head of Red Bull’s driver development programme – becoming the youngest driver in F1 history (17) at that point. The son of a former F1 driver in Jos Verstappen, it didn’t take Max long to show he was more than up to the task, finishing 12th in the Drivers’ Championship ahead of legends like Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button.

Marko quickly promoted him to parent team Red Bull Racing during the 2016 season, where he won his debut race in Spain. In doing so, he obliterated another record to become F1’s youngest Grand Prix winner at 18 years and 227-days-old, simulatenously covering Marko in glory.

Speaking about his decision to throw the Dutchman into an F1 seat on Viaplay’s Max Verstappen: Anatomy of a Champion documentary – which is available to stream from today via Amazon Prime (November 25th) – the 81-year-old Austrian said: “We were informed that Jos is pushing and training young Max. He was willing and hungry to learn. That already impressed me.

“Drivers in our junior teams are aged between 19 and 20 and Max was 16. So when it became public that he would be in a Formula One car, we received so many negative comments.

“They said ‘such a young guy, he can’t do it, it’s dangerous’ and blah, blah, blah. I said ‘I believe Max is ready, so let’s see how far we can go.’

“He immediately was competitive at Red Bull Racing and we know what happened [winning on his debut]. Max was on his way up. It was a satisfaction for me.” Marko has certainly had the last laugh with Verstappen proving himself to be one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time in his short career so far.

Verstappen won his first title in 2021 by overtaking championship rival and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the last race in Abu Dhabi. He won his next two championships in 2022 and 2023 with ease, and warded off a challenge from Lando Norris to secure the title this season with eight Grand Prix victories, including a show-stopping wet-weather performance in Brazil.