Marko on Newey. And Horner beating Steiner to Red Bull team boss

Friday, 12 July 2024 at 14:38

Red Bull veteran consultant Helmut Marko dropped many 'gold nuggets' during his nearly hour-long one-on-one interview with GRANDPRIX247 roving correspondent Hameed Nasir, including the impact of Adrian Newey's departure on Red Bull and how Christian Horner became team principal and not Guenther Steiner.

Red Bull Racing, and indeed the entire world of Formula 1, were rocked earlier this year when Adrian Newey announced he would be departing the team he helped establish - with Horner and Marko - into an F1 World Championship-winning force. Morphing from Jaguar, Red Bull is one of the most successful teams of the past two decades.

A fact that can be attributed to Newey according to Marko who told Nasir: "Adrian was very important for Red Bull Racing. You know, he came with a knowledge how to win championships. He won with McLaren he won with Williams.

So he helped to set up the factory, to get the necessary tools and how to work. He also brought some people with him. And what is outstanding about Adrian for me is his or, I should say, his knowledge about everything. He's not only aerodynamics.

"He knows about strategy. He knows about mechanical grip and all that. He looks at the car, and if there are problems he draws it on a board and they transfer it into a digital body to work with

"Of course, it's nowadays not one person only. But once he decided he wanted to do something different we had to accept it. I don't know where he's going but for sure everyone is trying to get him to their team," reckoned Marko.

Newey's future is unknown at this stage. Shortly after the announcement, there was strong speculation he would be Ferrari-bound. But in an ever-changing F1 landscape, Aston Martin appears to be on the list. As Marko said: "Everyone wants Adrian."

How 31-year-old Horner became the youngest F1 team principal

The 82-year-old Marko - a former F1 driver, 24 Hours of Le Mans winner, racing team owner and now in his role with RBR as driver 'decider' in chief - also recalled how Horner ended up as the team boss since their first race in 2005.

The latter approached Marko to buy a racing trailer and ended with Horner running their junior team in Formula 3000 (the Formula 2 equivalent of the time) and in charge of the Red Bull F1 team at the very young age of 31 and by far the youngest TP in the paddock at the time.

Marko took up the story: "At that time, we had a junior team and we put Antonio Liuzzi into the [Arden] team run by Horner. We won with him the Formula 3000 championship. I saw how he worked, how structured he was and so on.

"When we bought Jaguar practically for one dollar or one pound, I don't know exactly which currency... The boss [Dietrich Mateschitz] said we want to do it differently. And I said okay, but I have a young guy without F1 experience.

"So Didi wasn't really convinced. That's why we took [Gunther] Steiner, who had some experience with Jaguar before. Pretty soon it showed who was more suitable than who," explained Marko.

And a good decision that proved to be. With Marko in the driver corner, under Horner's stewardship, Red Bull have won 13 F1 World Championships for drivers (7) and constructors (6) and are likely to add a couple more before the end of the 2024 season - their 20th in the top flight.

(Quotes from Nasir Hameed's one-on-one interview with Dr Helmut Marko in Graz.)