Helmut Marko spoke in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport about what will change for Red Bull Racing after the death of Dietrich Mateschitz, but the conversation started with other equally important topics.
Q: Can you compare Max Verstappen’s record, who has already won 14 races this season, with Sebastian Vettel’s best performance, who took 13 wins in 2013?
Helmut Marko: In all fairness it must be said that there are now more races. It will certainly not be easy to break this record. Also, don’t forget that two more Grands Prix are ahead.
Q: With the transition to limited budgets, do you expect that the strength of the teams will be level in a few years, and that Max’s record is unlikely to be blocked?
Helmut Marko: So far, the move to tight budgets hasn’t changed anything, so why should anything change in the future? We just have to be more efficient.
It will naturally affect us that after winning the Constructors’ Championship, the time that Red Bull Racing spends on aerodynamic research will be shortened. That is why every session in the wind tunnel must now be used as efficiently as possible. In the end, it all depends on the level of professionalism of specialists.
Q: How important is it now that Sergio Perez remains in second place in the individual standings?
Helmut Marko: When everything else has already been accomplished, you can start solving such fun tasks. In addition, in order to maintain the fighting spirit of people, they must set a number of goals.
Q: Can the 2022 season be called the absolute best in the team’s history?
Helmut Marko: Yes, because there are more rivals and they have become stronger.
Q: Was it possible to achieve so much success thanks to the riders or the car?
Helmut Marko: Results depend on both factors. You saw that in the early stages of the season, when the car didn’t suit Max’s driving style, he and Perez were comparable in speed. And if Verstappen is happy with the car, he goes half a second faster.
Q: How do you respond to critics who claim the car was designed more with Verstappen in mind to the detriment of Perez?
Helmut Marko: I will say this is of course nonsense. The biggest problem was that the RB18 was too heavy. The weight of the car still exceeds the minimum.
Q: Was weight a bigger issue than aerodynamics?
Helmut Marko: There were no particular problems with aerodynamics.
Q: At the start of the season, were you ready to believe that everything would turn out so well in the end?
Helmut Marko: No. Remember what Max said in Australia? “It will take me 36 races to bounce back.” It was a difficult period, after which we analyzed the errors and increased the intensity of all work processes. The first two dropouts were due to Red Bull, the third to Honda. After that, we strengthened the quality control.
Q: What will change in the Red Bull program in Formula 1 with the death of Dietrich Mateschitz?
Helmut Marko: A lot will certainly change. By type of management, the company was in fact an autocracy. But because Red Bull Racing is the most effective marketing tool of the group, we have always been given independence.
We’re the only ones who didn’t have to follow certain company rules. We have been granted this autonomy with the permission of Mateschitz. But it is already known that the new management of the company wants to continue the program in Formula 1 in the form in which it exists now, namely. which gives us a fairly high degree of independence.
Q: Is the AplhaTauri team in crisis?
Helmut Marko: In general, the company is doing well and there is no economic need to sell the team. Rather, it is necessary to take it to a higher sporting level.
Q: Does Red Bull make money from your race team, or should Red Bull Racing invest money?
Helmut Marko: For the money we get from the company, Red Bull ads take up a disproportionate amount of space on the car. If we remove this ad and sell the freed up space to sponsors at commercial prices, we will make a lot of money.
Q: What about the Red Bull Ring circuit?
Helmut Marko: It belongs to the “Mateschitz Foundation”, which exists separately from the entire company. There is a sponsorship agreement between Red Bull and Projekt Spielberg and you can direct your question to this private organization.
Q: Have you thought about your own role? Is it possible that you decide to resign after Mateschitz’s death?
Helmut Marko: Business negotiations will soon take place in Thailand. I am an independent person and everything will envy the general structure of the company. But we still have a lot of work to do, and the team is doing well, we are working very efficiently.
Q: What will happen to the youth program? She hasn’t been very successful lately.
Helmut Marko: So we signed a contract with Nick de Vries.
Question: Who will stay in this program next season?
Helmut Marko: Isaac Hajjar should move to Formula 2. Jack Crawford is already here, as is Ayumu Iwasa. We also have a few new riders, but we’ll mention them later. Liam Lawson has shown great test speed in a Formula 1 car and will be driving in Japan next year and will also be one of our reserve drivers in F1.
Q: Were the FIA sanctions for financial regulation violations fair?
Helmut Marko: It was the first year the ordinance went into effect, many provisions were vague and the federation clarified it too late. We turned to Ernst & Young to have their specialists check everything. We had to be guided by something.
As a result, the overage was only about $400,000. For this money you can design one front wing for Hamilton’s car. (laughs) Granted, Haas will be able to build an entirely new machine.
Q: What did Mateschitz say about this whole story?
Helmut Marko: A meeting on the subject was scheduled to be held after the Mexico City Grand Prix. Now it will not take place. Over the years of his career, Mateschitz got a good hardening, he was a real fighter.
Q: Could a similar story repeat itself in 2022?
Helmut Marko: I think so far six teams have made budget overruns because it was impossible to foresee such a rapid rise in inflation. First, let’s talk about energy costs.
Question: In the future, your energy costs will decrease slightly, because you will work less in the wind tunnel…
Helmut Marko: The problem with our wind tunnel is that it was built right after the war. The building it is housed in was commissioned by the UK Ministry of Defense and is now under state protection as an architectural landmark. The building is insanely tall, with poor thermal insulation. It takes a lot of time to heat it up, and when it’s really cold, everything slows down even more.
Q: Adrian Newey has been complaining about this for a long time…
Helmut Marko: That is why we are building a new wind tunnel. Actually, this is crazy, because CFD technologies are used more and more. But since we couldn’t reach a consensus, we’ll have to spend another 50 million.
Question: When will the new pipeline be delivered?
Helmut Marko: The building is already finished and the wind tunnel has already been practically designed. But it will probably be another two or three years before everything is ready.
Source: F1 News
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