Dr Helmut Marko has robustly dismissed recent speculation about a potential takeover of Red Bull's secondary Formula 1 team.
This week, a Japanese media outlet suggested that the recently dismissed Haas team leader, Gunther Steiner, might be representing a consortium interested in acquiring RB, the team formerly known as Toro Rosso and Alpha Tauri.
However, Red Bull's chief F1 advisor from Austria, Marko, refuted these claims.
"I really don't understand where these things keep coming from," he conveyed to the Kleine Zeitung newspaper. "Everything has been clarified and settled with the shareholders."
Yet unresolved is the apparent struggle for control at Red Bull currently, which could be fueling these takeover rumors.
The internal conflict has not been making quite so many headlines for some weeks now.
"Basically, it's about bringing calm to the team now," Marko stressed. "And that's urgently needed. As we saw in Australia, Ferrari is there when we don't deliver. Other factors played a role in that, but our goal has to be the fourth world championship title in a row. Everything else is subordinate to that."
Despite this, there's a clear division within Red Bull Racing and even higher up in the company known for its energy drinks.
On one end stands Christian Horner alongside the 51 percent Thai ownership group, and on the other, the Austrian contingent with the 80-year-old Marko as a figurehead of that camp.
"That's politics," Marko remarked, "and I'm not concerned with it at the moment. It's all about winning the world championship."
Amid these tensions, earlier this year, there were whispers that triple world champion Max Verstappen might leave the team.
Verstappen has recently reaffirmed his support for his mentor Marko.
"That was a really big sign of loyalty," Marko acknowledged. "And I don't take that for granted at all, especially in this day and age. But Max is just so incredibly focused. He doesn't need a team around him to help him in these situations. He is an exceptional phenomenon at only 26 years old and goes his own way - and that's a very good thing."
