F1 stars hail Red Bull's new Helmut Marko after surprise Mercedes exit

Red Bull

F1 stars hail Red Bull's new Helmut Marko after surprise Mercedes exit

Clearly a major coup for Red Bull

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Saturday 8 August 2026 13:57

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F1 stars including world championship leader Kimi Antonelli have paid tribute to Red Bull's new Helmut Marko as the highly-rated Gwen Lagrue officially says goodbye to Mercedes.

The 83-year-old Marko was a key part of Red Bull's glory years, acting as ace talent scout and driver whisperer while Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen each claimed four world championship titles.

But at the end of 2025, Marko left his role, just adding to a major talent drain which had already seen the likes of Christian Horner, Adrian Newey, Rob Marshall and Jonathan Wheatley depart.

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One of the team's major challenges is restocking that talent pool, in part to persuade the aforementioned Verstappen to extend his stay with the team. If you didn't know (highly unlikely), his exit clause is now active and he could join a new team in 2027.

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Lagrue signing a major coup for Red Bull

Signing Lagrue - who was responsible for mentoring the likes of teen sensation Antonelli during his decade as Driver Development Advisor with the Silver Arrows - appears to be a major step in the right direction. Filling the Marko void was obviously a key goal and this is a significant coup.

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies was clearly delighted as he announced the signing, claiming: "Gwen is one of the very best talent developers in F1 and I know first-hand the expertise, leadership and passion he brings to developing young drivers.

"The Red Bull Junior Programme has always been a cornerstone of Red Bull's success, and having Gwen lead it soon reflects the importance we continue to place on developing the next generation of F1 talent.

"We want to recognise another time today the extraordinary contribution Helmut Marko has made over more than two decades creating and leading the Junior Programme.

"The Junior Programme has become the benchmark in F1 because of his vision, commitment and ability to identify and develop exceptional talents and he deserves enormous credit for that."

Helmut Marko developed Max Verstappen among others.

Mercedes ace says goodbye, stars respond

Now Lagrue, who will officially start his new role in 2027, has officially said his public goodbyes to Mercedes, talking about the legacy they built together and the drivers who reaped the benefits.

"When Toto gave me the opportunity to join the team, I couldn’t have imagined the journey that lay ahead," he said.

"Together, we built, evolved and challenged ourselves every single day, always driven by the same ambition to help talented young drivers reach their full potential.

"Looking back, what fills me with the greatest pride isn’t just what we achieved, it’s all the drivers I had the privilege to work with.

"From Esteban Ocon and Nyck De Vries, to George Russell and Kimi Antonelli. From Fred Vesti and Doriane Pin to every junior driver who are part, or has been part of, the Mercedes-AMG F1 Junior Programme over the years.

"Watching young talent grow into world-class professionals has been one of the greatest privileges of my career. I hope each of you continues to dream big, work hard and enjoy every step of the journey. You are surrounded by an extraordinary team that will always push you to become the very best version of yourselves."

The response to Lagrue's post on his Instagram page was an outpouring of not only love, but huge respect. With a host of top drivers responding.

The message, which is accompanied by a picture of Gwen with a very very young Antonelli, triggered messages from the Italian himself plus the likes of Ocon, De Vries and Felipe Massa.

Red Bull have landed a great talent spotter

The importance of the signing for Red Bull was highlighted by former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner, who has serious respect for Lagrue's ability.

Speaking on the Red Flags podcast, he said: "I was quite surprised that he’s leaving Mercedes.

"They must have made him a very good offer because he’s very close to the guys.

"I think he’s [great at] spotting talent and knowing what’s going on in all the series. Gwen has been doing it longer than anybody else. Therefore, he has got that advantage, and he knows what he’s looking for.

“So absolutely, that was a very good hire by Laurent to get Gwen there for the future.”

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Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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