Securing Max Verstappen for an F1 seat was an Austrian Civil War between racing veterans Helmut Marko and Niki Lauda. Both representing arch-rival teams Red Bull and Mercedes respectively had their eyes on the Dutch prodigy. Eventually, Marko securing Verstappen’s services was Lauda and Mercedes’s loss. So much so, that Christian Horner stated that it was a “big middle finger” to Lauda at the Silver Arrows.
Although, the tussle between Marko and Lauda goes way back to the 1960s and 70s when they both raced professionally. Marko, primarily an endurance racer was making a name for himself and got close to F1 too.
In the early 70s, Marko seemed set for a Ferrari drive in F1 and supercars. However, after an accident in the 1972 French Grand Prix, driving for BRM, the now-Red Bull advisor injured his eye which cost him his F1 future. Lauda capitalized on this and got the BRM drive for ’73 and then the Ferrari seat in ’74. Decades later, the duo were back tussling off-track on Verstappen’s negotiation table in 2014.
It was a tug-of-war between Red Bull and Mercedes that often involved lots of strategic decision-making. According to Verstappen’s biography Unstoppable, by author Mark Hughes, Horner stated about this, “Mercedes were trying to position him in a GP2 team and they couldn’t offer him a Formula One seat straightaway. And so that was our trump card.”
Christian Horner about Helmut Marko and Niki Lauda’s tussle over signing Max Verstappen.
Credits: Unstoppable: The Ultimate Biography of Three-Time F1 World Champion Max Verstappen – Mark Hughes. pic.twitter.com/lwxlXqeqwy
— TheF1Guy (@Sabyasaachii) December 26, 2023
“I think Helmut took delight not only in signing him because of the talent he was but also because it was a big middle finger to Niki!”
The Brackley team was going to set the Dutchman up in F2, which wasn’t plausible for Verstappen and Co. An immediate promotion to F1 from F3, skipping F2 altogether was their wish and Red Bull strategically fulfilled it. Their meeting in at Hockenheim was the turning point that gave Helmut Marko the chance to give Marko the metaphorical finger.
Niki Lauda deemed Max Verstappen as the “talent of the century” despite losing him to Red Bull
On a sunny Barcelona afternoon in 2016, the duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg came together on lap 1. The 2016 Spanish GP for the Brackley team lasted only for 4 corners and it opened the door wide open for Red Bull debutant Max Verstappen to take the win.
Niki Lauda who was the non-executive director at Mercedes was furious about the collision. Yet. the three-time champion did not fail to recognize the oozing talent of Verstappen. So much so, that Lauda took his famous cap off to salute the Dutchman’s brilliance.
The Austrian wore the red cap to cover the scars from his perilous 1976 Nurburgring crash. He deemed Verstappen after the race as “a talent of the century.”
Niki Lauda on Max Verstappen: ”He [Max Verstappen] is the talent of the century.
I’ve never seen someone in motorsport who switched cars and went straight to win the Grand Prix. That has never happened before and it will never happen again I’d say.” pic.twitter.com/4jp24qlcdh— leonas (@MV1Le0n) August 15, 2023
Even his past rival Helmut Marko agreed as he had always been hyping Verstappen’s credentials till then and still does. It was rare for Lauda to agree with Marko, given their long history of tussles. Marko also stated how Max brilliantly kept the race lead under pressure. He stated, “The way he kept the lead with someone like Raikkonen harrying him is incredible.”
The duo had a similar moment when the Dutch Lion showed one of his lifetime race performances at Interlagos the same year. In treacherous rainy conditions, Verstappen pulled off some unfathomable moves on wet tires and showed his class apart racecraft in the wet. Post that amazing podium performance too, Lauda, Marko, Horner, and everyone else in the paddock were only chanting Max Verstappen’s praises.
