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'We are not going,' Helmut Marko confirms he and Max Verstappen won’t join Mercedes

Originally posted on FirstSportz | By Justin P Joy | Last updated 3/14/24

Rumors about reigning F1 world champion Max Verstappen ditching Red Bull for Mercedes has been circulating in the F1 community over the last few weeks. The speculations first hit the ground when Christian Horner’s controversy came to light. Verstappen’s father Jos Verstappen meeting the team principal of Mercedes Toto Wolff and publicly criticizing Horner fueled it more.

There reportedly has been immense unrest going on at Red Bull, with all the internal politics and powers struggles. During those, another speculation of the Red Bull’s advisor Helmut Marko’s possible suspension started swirling around as well. This also fueled Marko to Mercedes rumors as well. The Austrian finally addressing all the rumors confirmed that he and Max Verstappen won’t be going into Mercedes together.

It's a long time... I was very grateful for Max's loyalty. He impressed me. At the moment we are not going to go to Mercedes together Helmut Marko said (H&T: soymotor.com).

Max Verstappen was also seen addressing these speculations in the past, the Dutchman has stated that for now he is very happy with the team and wishes to focus on the performance. Even though the Mercedes team principal has stated that he would be happy to have Verstappen, it seems like it would take quite a while for that dream to be fruitful.

Max Verstappen believes sports and politics should be kept separate

Saudi Arabia GP has been the subject of debate for some time now. Many critics claim that Saudi Arabia, which has stepped up its involvement in sports in recent years, for allegedly attempting to hide the problems the nation facing. Saudi Arabia is well known for its abuse of human rights, and issues surrounding the topic. The country in recent years has been called ‘sportswashing’. Verstappen doesn’t seem bother about the same as he doesn’t want politics in F1.

Of course, we are not into politics, that's a whole different story, and I think also it's very important that sport is sport, politics are politics. Sometimes people like to be in the middle of it, I prefer to just focus on sport, otherwise, I would have been a politician, but that's not my expertise and definitely not where I want to end up as well. Max Verstappen said.

Verstappen believes that every country has its own flaws and merits. F1 as a sport is not going to change the world, but the athletes and people involved in the sports try to keep a positive environment. According to him, every country has its own culture and beliefs, and he has seen positive changes around the world.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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