Helmut Marko on Dutch GP loss, Kimi Antonelli & being Max Verstappen - Inside Line F1 Podcast exclusive

[00:00:19] I know you're going just as crazy as I am after looking at that title, but it is true.

[00:00:24] Dr. Helmut Marko is back on the Inside Line F1 podcast and you know the best part?

[00:00:31] This particular episode is just a teaser.

[00:00:34] That's right, we caught up with him after the Dutch Grand Prix where Red Bull Racing

[00:00:38] lost to McLaren by over 22 seconds, their biggest margin of loss to any team since

[00:00:43] 2022 and we wanted to know what is the mood like in the team?

[00:00:47] How do they look at this? How do they get back?

[00:00:50] How do they look at someone like Kimi Antonelli getting his seat in Formula 1

[00:00:53] and when do you nurture a young driver and fast track them into Formula 1?

[00:00:58] There's more on Sergio Perez, there's more on Max Verstappen but that is just in this part

[00:01:03] and that's only in a few odd minutes.

[00:01:05] After that we have a bigger conversation with Dr. Helmut Marko coming up in a few days time

[00:01:10] where we touch up on the 20 years of Red Bull Racing.

[00:01:14] It's been such a great journey for Red Bull and we have Dr. Marko touching up upon the few

[00:01:20] critical moments that made it happen. The turning points, signing in renewing,

[00:01:24] what's it gonna be like without him? Were there a few engine deals that didn't go through that

[00:01:28] they wanted to? Was there a driver who Red Bull wanted but they didn't get?

[00:01:32] And also more on how Landon Norris almost got into a Red Bull Racing car.

[00:01:37] All of that and more will be a part of Part 2 but now let's get to Part 1

[00:01:41] that's come up after the Dutch GP. Here's Dr. Helmut Marko for you, unfiltered. Let's get in.

[00:01:47] Dr. Marko, excuse me, I firstly want to ask you about the Dutch GP that just went by.

[00:01:53] It's interesting because now you finally have unfortunately the last, the largest margin of

[00:01:59] loss to any team that Red Bull has had since 2022, since the new regulations came in

[00:02:05] and I want to know what the mood in the team is like. Are you guys happy that there's

[00:02:08] competition or just unhappy with the way the car is working? What do you feel in the team right now?

[00:02:14] First of all it was a clear victory from McLaren and the 22nd is only half the story

[00:02:26] because if Landau would have had a better boy good start, the distance would have been even more

[00:02:32] and that is alarming. But we have a very big team, we have very bright people

[00:02:44] and we believe first of all the setup from Max was not the right one, we had too much wink

[00:02:54] and it didn't help our diet equitation because the diet was much less than expected.

[00:03:03] The circuit suits McLaren, I would say very much, the temperature was also in favor of McLaren

[00:03:13] so we believe we can fight back but we have to find out why we lost the balance in our car. I would say

[00:03:26] since it's either China or Suzuka and the upgrades we brought, they were theoretically

[00:03:43] improvement but in reality it just changed the balance and the balance not

[00:03:50] to the better and that we have to find out what happened and we have to give Max in the future

[00:03:57] a more competitive car so we can fight McLaren again.

[00:04:02] That's a very interesting explanation and you said Max in the future, if I can just

[00:04:07] pick up one key off track story that came up from the Dutch Grand Prix, Toto Wolf said he

[00:04:13] met with team Wistappen in the summer break. Max turned back and said what meeting are you talking

[00:04:20] of when he was asked about this meeting? What do you think is actually happening there?

[00:04:25] Are Mercedes actively trying to chase Max even though he's got a contract till 2028

[00:04:32] or what's the scenario playing out like? Why is Toto Wolf pretty much every second race

[00:04:37] talking of how much he's wanting Max in Mercedes? I mean he wouldn't be a good team

[00:04:43] principle if he wouldn't try to get Max. I think every top team would like to have Max

[00:04:50] and the other story is all the people live in Monte Carlo, Monte Carlo, if there's not a

[00:04:57] Grand Prix is quite a quiet place. There are not so many coffee shops so it's just natural

[00:05:04] that you run into each other and of course Toto makes out the story of it and on the other hand

[00:05:12] Jostra Sattman I think is a bigger fan of Toto's and he is from Christian.

[00:05:20] Oh yes we've been hearing all those stories but under what scenario Dr. Marko do you think

[00:05:26] Max could even think of leaving such a competitive unit like Red Bull and yes we know the contract

[00:05:32] is till 28 but why does even Jost get involved in these discussions? Are there some scenarios

[00:05:38] playing out in Jost's head and then of course those reports about having performance clauses

[00:05:43] which even Christian spoke about at Sandfoot. Every contract with the top Formula One driver

[00:05:50] has exit clauses which are mainly based on performance. So

[00:05:59] the question why Jost and so on that you have to ask Jost but at the moment Max is focused

[00:06:07] to win the championship as a team is focused to win this championship and we have to look forward

[00:06:13] to the next round. 26 are coming new rules so nobody knows at the moment who will have

[00:06:20] a competitive engine. Of course what happened in 2014 when all of a sudden the engine we used

[00:06:31] was at least 50 euros per hour or more behind and was not reliable. So there is some,

[00:06:39] yeah you really don't know what will happen and that you look around what's happened is always a

[00:06:45] few but that's the moment everything is clear. Max will try for a racing next season and we have to

[00:06:52] give him a car that he can win and then all these rumors will I think stop immediately.

[00:06:58] If I can ask you a question in this regard because performance clauses or exit clauses

[00:07:04] is something that the media just throws around loosely to explain why Max is staying or leaving

[00:07:09] or in this case Fetal in 2014 stayed or left. What are you able to sort of give some examples of what

[00:07:16] a clause could be like? No I mean of course I don't want to discuss such clauses but they

[00:07:22] are based on performance you know so if the team doesn't provide the car where the driver can

[00:07:32] be in the front then that is normally a reason why he could leave. But now that we've seen Max

[00:07:39] clear the air that he's staying for a bit I want to talk about another young driver Dr. Marco

[00:07:43] that's coming up on the radar some call him a mini max in the way if that's the right way to put

[00:07:49] it. Kimmy Antonelli I want to talk about you and building up young drivers in a case like Max

[00:07:55] as well when you see that a driver is ready when you see someone like Kimmy who's only

[00:08:00] done Formula 2 half a season now before that he was in Formula 3 how do you get a sense of this

[00:08:05] guy is ready to be put into Formula 1? How did you do that with Max? I mean I'm not so

[00:08:12] informed about the details from Antonelli I know one of the resides he was testing a lot in

[00:08:20] two years over at Formula 1 car but if someone has a talent and the team is brave enough to

[00:08:27] do it I mean we showed it with Max and then it's working and I think it's the right approach

[00:08:32] if someone is coming up doesn't matter how old he is when he has a talent then let's get him in the

[00:08:40] car. Do you think that Mercedes are learning from your experiment with Max? For sure it helps

[00:08:47] them to make their decision. Was Kimmy Antonelli on your radar at any point Dr. Marco given how

[00:08:53] Red Bull has such a competitive and an expansive junior driver program? No he was driving for

[00:09:02] Donikart. Donikart in the past had a cooperation with Ferrari and of course he watched a little bit

[00:09:10] but you can't have older drivers especially if they're so young and Ferrari obviously didn't take

[00:09:20] Antonelli even though they had first choice and it was then Mercedes who signed him up and now

[00:09:27] yeah but let's see he did very well but let's see what he's doing with Formula 1. And just on that

[00:09:32] Dr. Marco in the case of Max what did you see in him early on that made you go even though

[00:09:39] this guy is only 16 I want him in my Formula 1 car what would you see from a talent like

[00:09:44] that that gets you to make that decision? I mean we had been in discussion with Max and

[00:09:50] he was yours for quite a while he was also doing his go-kart area normally or at that time we didn't

[00:10:00] get involved with go-kart because we believe it's too early but things are changing nowadays

[00:10:06] but the main reason why we decided to put him in the Formula 1 car was a race at Norris Ring Germany

[00:10:21] F3 race it was wet it was raining it was less raining and he was a class on his own I mean

[00:10:30] he was a second or two seconds faster than anybody else in this field and there was also

[00:10:35] Orkholm and some other competitive drivers and the way he controlled the car had very difficult

[00:10:45] conditions that made me and we changed we were talking about supporting him in F2 and so on

[00:10:52] and said no we go directly to but I think that's part of the question he said already

[00:10:58] that's part of the story of Red Bull Racing for me

[00:11:04] Max first up Dr. Marco we all know the level that Max tends to perform even when he's in sync or not

[00:11:12] in sync with the car but looking at the other teams McLaren for example having both their

[00:11:16] drivers consistently give podiums and be in the points as well what is the performance

[00:11:22] benchmark for Max's teammate that that Red Bull as a team expects regardless of whoever it is

[00:11:29] first of all I don't think it's nice to be teammate to Max nowadays

[00:11:40] I honestly believe there are not many drivers maybe a Hamilton

[00:11:48] or maybe Lando could be near to him but only near to him so first of all

[00:11:59] driver next to Max has to have a lot of self-confidence and he has to admit that he's driving

[00:12:07] with the fastest driver informal or one at the moment and to beat him is very very difficult

[00:12:16] so just do your best and see where you can finish and that we have to say managed

[00:12:26] Sergio for quite a long period longer than all the other drivers which were next to Max

[00:12:34] and in Sanford he proved that he did what was the maximum for him and from the car

[00:12:39] so that we expect to be reasonable near to Max we don't expect him to beat

[00:12:45] a reasonable next to Max man that was just so much fun interviewing Dr. Helmut Marco

[00:12:51] and you know the best part this is just part one of part two a bigger episode with him is coming

[00:12:57] up in a few days time where we touch up upon the history of Red Bull the 20 years of Red Bull

[00:13:03] racing and how they became the team that they are now we touch up upon so many stories

[00:13:08] including engine deals that didn't go through drivers that they wanted in the car but

[00:13:13] eventually didn't get and the pivotal moments that made Red Bull racing into such a dominant force

[00:13:18] all of that and more will be a part of part two so you better stay updated with that and how can

[00:13:23] you do that it's very simple just subscribe to the inside line f1 podcast on all of our social

[00:13:28] media channels and on whatever podcast listening platform you listen to on and we shall keep

[00:13:35] you posted for when the second part comes in thank you for listening everyone and I shall see you

[00:13:40] shortly bye