Helmut Marko’s extreme driver management methods resurfaced this week after former Red Bull driver Sergio Perez shared how the longtime advisor handled his mental struggles. Speaking on the remarks, former F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya added how Marko also put him into therapy with an unusual story of his own.
Sergio Perez recently recalled how, early in his Red Bull stint, the team suggested he speak to a psychologist after a run of poor results. The Mexican explained that his first call with the psychologist was brief, but the bill was not.
“In the very first races, when I wasn’t getting results, what you truly need is a psychologist… So I talk to the psychologist and he says, ‘Hey, what’s your name?’ ‘Well, Sergio Pérez, so and so’… I tell him, ‘Hey, I don’t have time for a session today, but we’ll talk. Let’s find a time, shall we?’ ‘Oh, perfect.”
“One day, I get to the Red Bull factory, and they say, ‘Listen, there’s a bill for you, and it’s for 6,000 pounds from the psychologist.’ I say, ‘Oh, can you send it to Helmut, please? He’ll take care of it,” he said on the Cracks Podcast (52:49 onwards)
Sergio Perez added that Marko agreed to pay, and the Mexican driver jokingly said he felt “cured” after just that single, expensive call. That theme was echoed by Juan Pablo Montoya, who raced for Makro’s junior team. He shared his own experience while discussing Perez’s comments on a recent AS Colombia podcast:
“The only person who ever sent me to someone to get me checked out because he said there was something wrong with me is named Helmut Marko… But not to a psychologist, he sent me to an old woman who was energy healer. because he said my speed and stupidity were not possible. Like that, but it’s Helmut.” (20:35 onwards)
Montoya went along with it because Helmut Marko was funding his racing career, housing, and travel at the time. He described being taken to the elderly woman who used a wand to “read energies,” a session that cost him $100 at a time when he could barely afford basic living expenses.
“I went once or twice. well, it’s one of those little things that has a wand. It’s a wand with a hour glass and you look at the energies… They charged me in… ’97, I spent about $100 and I didn’t even have money to drive a car or anything. I took the bus and not even the bus, I skated around the city to save money and I traveled with the team to the races. Now imagine spending a $100 which is the monthly grocery bill more or less. An old woman who put me on a stretcher and took her gold tip wand.” (21:33 onwards)
Despite that, Juan Pablo Montoya made it clear he was not criticizing Helmut Marko personally. He portrayed him as unconventional, but also as someone whose methods, however extreme, were rooted in a belief that he was helping his drivers succeed. The comments come after Helmut Marko himself is no longer part of Formula 1, following Red Bull’s sweeping leadership changes in 2025.
Juan Pablo Montoya lauds Helmut Marko at Red Bull: “You have to admire what he did.”
Helmut Marko’s legacy is difficult to separate from Red Bull’s results. During his two decades as motorsport advisor, the team won six Constructors’ Championships and eight Drivers’ Championships. He also built one of the most aggressive driver development programs in the sport, most famously fast-tracking Max Verstappen straight from F3 into F1 in 2015. The team will field its ninth different driver to partner with Verstappen in 2026.
Reflecting on that record, Juan Pablo Montoya acknowledged that while many drivers have had complicated relationships with Marko, his impact is undeniable.
“I bet you that if Max were to retire and talk about Helmut, he’d say the same crazy things, that Helmut is completely crazy. but at the same time, he respects him because he gave him the opportunity and everything. Just like me. Whether he agrees with how he did things or not is very different from the things he did, and you have to admire what he did.”
Red Bull now enters a new phase without Helmut Marko, Christian Horner, or several other long-time leaders, with its first true in-house engine era in 2026 with RB Powertrains and Ford.
