Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes a "different approach" to engineering their car is the reasoning behind Max Verstappen catapulting himself back into title contention. 

Red Bull have endured a turbulent season both on and off the track, with underwhelming results at the start of the campaign seeing team principal Christian Horner sacked in July. 

The Milton Keynes-based team also saw Yuki Tsunoda replace Liam Lawson as Red Bull's second driver early in the campaign, though results in that area have not improved. 

And with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris leading the way for much of 2025, McLaren cruised to the Constructors' Championship for the second successive season. 

However, since returning from the summer break, Red Bull's fortunes are beginning to turn, with Verstappen mounting the most unlikely of title charges with five races left. 

He has won three of the last four races, including dominating last weekend's United States Grand Prix, closing the gap to the championship frontrunners Piastri and Norris. 

Verstappen now trails Piastri by just 40 points ahead of the upcoming Mexico City Grand Prix, and Marko has credited the team's upturn to a change in approach.

"It's a different approach from the engineering side, they're working very well together," Marko told Sky Sports F1 in Austin.

"They ask the driver what they want. Very good technical understanding, but it's more that he says how he would like to have the car. He has confidence.

"Before, at some of the races, it was a very small margin where the car was working, and he didn't have the confidence.

"And now, the car is to his liking and that keeps his confidence, and of course, he delivers with fantastic lap times."

Buenos Días México #F1 || #MexicoGP pic.twitter.com/NouWfPu6rt

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) October 23, 2025

Before unexpectedly winning the Italian Grand Prix in September, Verstappen had gone eight races and almost four months without standing on the top step of the podium. 

Heading into the summer break, Verstappen had not finished on the podium for four consecutive races for the first time since 2018, with Red Bull struggling for consistency.

Marko surprisingly revealed that Verstappen's interest in the season had begun to dwindle given the sheer gulf in performance between Red Bull and McLaren. 

However, he said that driving, and ultimately winning, in endurance racing at the Nordschleife in September had a role to play in what Verstappen has produced since. 

"Max at one stage when we were not competitive, I would say he lost a little bit of interest," said Marko.

"He was more interested in GT racing, so to keep him in a good mood, I was talking about Nurburgring and things like that.

"But now that the car is working, and his success at the Nurburgring, I would say two tenths just came from him because he's really motivated.

"He's enjoying himself, you don't hear him shouting, he's smiling – that's what you need."

DRIVERS TO WATCH

Max Verstappen – Red Bull

Following his victory in Austin, Verstappen has now won 68 races in Formula One. The Dutchman has won five races this season, including three of the last four, as many victories as in the previous 18, and he returns to a track he has had success at. 

Indeed, Verstappen has won five times around Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, at least two more than any other driver around the circuit, with the legendary Jim Clark the closest to the Red Bull superstar with three victories.

The four-time world champion has also led from start to finish in 17 different races, the last coming in the United States. He has achieved this three times in 2025 (also in Emilia-Romagna and Azerbaijan. Only in 2021 (four) and 2023 (five) has he managed to do so more. 

But as he puts together a late charge for the title, his team are on the cusp of history. 

Should Yuki Tsunoda or Verstappen lead for at least one lap in Mexico, Red Bull will become the fourth team to have one of its drivers lead in at least 200 grand prix races, behind Ferrari (509), McLaren (362) and Williams (226).

George Russell – Mercedes

While all the talk has surrounded the three-way battle at the top, Mercedes' Russell has quietly gone about his business and enjoyed a stellar campaign, which the Silver Arrows have since rewarded with a new deal after months of speculation around his future. 

The Briton has finished each of the last 29 races, which is the best current streak in the competition. Russell can equal Kimi Raikkonen with the ninth-best run in the competition's history (30, between Australia 2012 and Hungary 2013) should he cross the chequered flag unscathed here. 

Though Russell's hopes of gatecrashing the Drivers' Championship party are all but over, he has been among the best of the rest in the competition, registering eight podiums in 2025, a total only bettered by Verstappen, Norris and Piastri. 

Should he finish inside the top three this time around, it will be his best record for podiums in a single season in the competition, surpassing the eight he managed in 2022. 

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Drivers'

1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 346

2. Lando Norris (McLaren) – 332

3. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 306

4. George Russell (Mercedes) – 252

5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) – 192

Constructors'

1. McLaren – 678

2. Mercedes – 341

3. Ferrari – 334

4. Red Bull – 331

5. Williams – 111