Jos Verstappen is €500 poorer after losing a bad bet to Helmut Marko ahead of the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.

The two men associated with Red Bull placed bets on how well McLaren MCL39 would perform in respect to the new RB21 — and Verstappen came out on the losing side.

How Jos Verstappen lost €500 in Australia

Heading into the Australian Grand Prix and the kick-off of the 2025 Formula 1 season, it appears that Jos Verstappen and Helmut Marko had engaged in a bit of friendly betting.

The elder Verstappen hasn’t been afraid to point out where Red Bull Racing has struggled, with the Austrian team slipping in performance midway through 2024 as the competition introduced upgrades that Red Bull couldn’t counter.

As a Red Bull Racing advisor, Helmut Marko’s faith in the team is less susceptible to changing tides than those of Jos Verstappen — and it’s this butting of heads that seems to have kicked off a friendly bet.

“In comparison to the test days in Bahrain, we have taken a big step, because then the difference was at least half a second I think,” a cheerful Marko told De Telegraaf after qualifying.

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“I have also won 500 euros from Jos Verstappen, because he thought we would indeed lose five tenths to McLaren.

“And for tomorrow I have already bet on a victory for Max at a bookmaker.”

In the first qualifying session of 2025, Max Verstappen secured a third-place starting position with a time of 1:15.481. For comparison, polesitter Lando Norris netted a 1:15.096 lap, while hometown hero Oscar Piastri took the checkered flag with a 1:15.180 lap.

So, while there is a performance deficit, it’s not quite the five-tenths gap that Jos Verstappen predicted, leaving Marko to collect his winnings.

And it sounds as if Marko’s confidence has continued through to the race; with a significant chance of rain on Sunday for the Grand Prix, there are high hopes that Verstappen will be able to pull out a brilliant performance similar to that of Brazil 2024.

That being said, Marko has also downplayed the pace difference between Red Bull and McLaren in dry conditions.

“I didn’t think the gap to McLaren was that big,” Marko told De Telegraaf.

“It was evenly matched until the eleventh corner, after that they kept the tires alive better.

“But tomorrow it will be different again.”

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