Red Bull’s motorsport boss Helmut Marko not only has his own Formula 1 team in mind. The 79-year-old is also keeping a close eye on the competition, such as young driver Oscar Piastri, who will start his rookie season at McLaren in 2023. He’s under a lot of pressure, even though he hasn’t competed in a single race yet.
The publicly held contract quarrel about young driver Oscar Piastri has left its mark on Formula 1.
Helmut Marko, motorsport consultant for the Red Bull racing team, sees “a great talent” in the Australian, as he emphasized in an interview with “Sport Bild”. “But with his contract situation, he stirred up so much dust, even though he hasn’t ridden a meter yet, that he’s already under pressure.”
The Australian Piastri was trained with the F1 team Alpine in recent years and, according to the French, should take over the cockpit for 2023, which had become vacant with the departure of Fernando Alonso. But the 21-year-old was not contractually bound to Alpine and insisted on a move to McLaren.
The matter could only be clarified in court – with a better end for McLaren, where Oscar Piastri will take over Daniel Ricciardo’s seat from 2023. For Helmut Marko it is therefore clear: “He has to deliver. I’m curious if he can and will do it.”
Marko: Hamilton wouldn’t work at Red Bull
With his own racing team, however, there are no such contractual ambiguities as with Alpine. World champion Max Verstappen is even tied to Red Bull until 2028 – a long-term cooperation that is rather unusual in motorsport.
As a result, the team has not only created clarity for the future, it also prevents the competition from being poached, says Marko: “Max is basically our best defense agent.”
In the meantime, he would not swap his top driver for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. “I don’t think anyone would perform at the level they are currently doing,” says the Austrian about a change scenario in which Verstappen and Hamilton would swap teams. “I don’t think Max would feel comfortable with Mercedes and that Lewis would fit in harmoniously with us. A driver needs security, but also a certain warmth.”