Red Bull chief's Max Verstappen comment appears to confirm Mercedes theory

Helmut Marko has admitted that it was a 'relief' when Max Verstappen committed his F1 future to Red Bull ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Dutchman was heavily linked with a move to Mercedes over the past few months, but nailed his colours to the mast last week. The Verstappen to Mercedes saga was a thorny, tangled mess of conflicting reports and media speculation, with George Russell, Toto Wolff, Marko and Verstappen among the raft of key characters contributing to an ever-changing narrative.

Some weekends, he seemed doomed to leave, and some he looked certain to stay. After months of speculation and intrigue, Verstappen declared on media day in Hungary that he planned to see out the remainder of his contract with Red Bull. "I think it's time to basically stop all the rumours, and for me it's always been quite clear that I was staying anyway," he stated.

Verstappen's suggestion that there was never any realistic chance of leaving Red Bull, Marko's latest comments back up reports that the four-time world champion's camp was seriously considering joining Wolff and Mercedes prior to Christian Horner's sacking.

"It's a big relief and the whole team is really, really enthusiastic to make a better car for him next year," Marko confessed at the Hungarian GP. With the reigning world champion slumped down in ninth place at the line on Sunday, Red Bull engineers have a substantial task on their hands to follow through on that promise.

While Marko and Red Bull have their sights set on long-term success, team principal Laurent Mekies believes that there will still be opportunities for Verstappen to record a third Grand Prix victory before the end of the campaign. This view is not shared by the team's star driver, though.

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"I don't think what you see this weekend represents where the car is at," Mekies said on Sunday, responding to the Dutchman's pessimism. "We accept the fact that we are probably not very strong on tracks like here, but what we have seen today was outstanding.

"So, if you look, no question McLaren are faster, but look at Spa, Max was able to fight certainly on Saturday and surprise everyone in the Sprint. So, let's see. The season is still very long. Even if car development is going to heavily slow down or is pretty much going to be minimum from now on, we still have a lot of things we can learn, as this weekend showed.

"And through that, as difficult and as uncomfortable as it is, fundamentally, you learn through these sorts of weekends. So better to have them early on. We will learn, and if we are able to extract a bit more of the car, thanks to weekends like today, then hopefully we can put up a better fight."