Marco: All contracts include termination conditions

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko gave an interview in which he said that a decision about the future of Sergio Perez and other drivers will be made during the summer break.

Q: There are a lot of talented young people in the Red Bull program: Arvid Lindblad, who is in Formula 3, won both races at Silverstone. Isaac Hajjar leads the drivers’ standings in Formula 2. And then you have Liam Lawson. How good are all three of them? Is there a new Max Verstappen among them?
Helmut Marko: First of all, we are not looking for a new Max, because Max is unique. And it is difficult for someone to be his partner. We are already in a situation where our second driver unfortunately does not perform at the level he should perform. During the summer break, we will think about how to proceed.

Lindblad is only 16 years old so it is difficult to talk about his future, but at Silverstone on Sunday he came under enormous pressure from Gabriele Mini, who is in his second season, two years older and more experienced. Arvid held him back and in the end Mini simply ruined his tyres trying to pass him.

Lindblad is very mature and confident for his age, just like Liam Lawson. It might be better to give them a chance to spend their debut season at RB, and then transfer them to Red Bull Racing. But of course they need more time to prepare. They can’t just come into the team and say they will beat Max. This is a mistake Pierre Gasly once made, who thought he was as good as Max.

Maybe in two or three years Lawson and Lindblad will be ready to race for Red Bull Racing. But I’m not sure Max will perform at this point. If he doesn’t enjoy Formula 1 anymore and doesn’t want to compete anymore, he will come to us and say “Thank you” and that’s it.

But he will continue his racing career. I think his dream is to race with Jos at Le Mans. It will be an unusual experience. I wouldn’t want to be in their team leader’s shoes, as they both have difficult personalities. But it will be a great experience.

Q: Sergio Perez has a new contract, but he is already more than a hundred points behind Verstappen. Is there a legal way out of this situation?
Helmut Marko: In Formula 1, all contracts have termination clauses. They are mainly related to results. As I said, during the summer break we will study the situation and make a decision.

Q: If Sergio’s place becomes available, will Liam Lawson take it?
Helmut Marko: First you have to evaluate everything. Lawson is testing at Silverstone and there are two more races before the summer break, which could also influence the situation. And then there is Yuki Tsunoda, who is performing very well.

Q: You mentioned Pierre Gasly. Is it true that you once said that every time Pierre got behind the wheel he wanted to rebuild the car?
Helmut Marko: Yes. When he was lapped in Budapest, he wanted another suspension! (laughs) But he is not an engineer. He had run out of excuses and simply could not accept that Max was faster.

Q: Let’s talk about Yuki and Isaac Hadjar. They both like to shout at engineers on the radio. Did you explain to them that they are not allowed to do this?
Helmut Marko: Sure. We gave Yuki a lot of arguments and sent him to a psychologist, because shouting on the radio is stupid. Also, shouting makes him drive slower, which bothered me the most. We taught Yuki: if you tell an engineer that a car is d…mo, what do you want to hear from him in response? What will he do?

We teach Yuki that he has to provide detailed technical information to the engineer. You have to concentrate and figure out what the problem is exactly. Of course, if you talk to Yuki alone, he doesn’t shout, but speaks in an aggressive way. And of course on the radio.

As for Isaac, his French temperament leads to the same effect, so we sent them both to a psychologist to stop all this.

Q: Were you surprised by Lewis Hamilton’s decision to join Ferrari? Or did you know about the transition beforehand?
Helmut Marko: There were rumours, but in the winter there are always a lot of rumours when there is no racing. I heard everything the day before the official announcement. It came as a real surprise to me. On the other hand, his transition will only benefit Formula 1.

Lewis is the most successful driver in history and his move to Ferrari has already sent the company’s stock soaring. We are already seeing the financial impact of the transition.

Normally contract negotiations for next year start in July-August, but because of Hamilton’s transfer this year everything started earlier. Most of the contracts are already signed. Let’s see, it will be interesting.