Dec 9 (Reuters) - Helmut Marko, a mentor and major ally of four-times Formula One world champion Max Verstappen, is leaving the Red Bull team after 20 years as motorsport consultant to the energy drink brand.

The 82-year-old Austrian, a grand prix racer in the 1970s and close confidant to the team's founder Dietrich Mateschitz who died in 2022, also headed the Red Bull junior programme.