Helmut Marko spoke about the market entanglements that revolve around the drivers of the Red Bull family, undermined by Sainz and Lawson.
After a rather calm year, in the first months of 2024 the pilots market has already proven to be very lively. Everyone wants to get the best seat possible in view of the regulatory revolution of 2026, and the most experienced pilots, Fernando Alonso e Lewis Hamilton, have already made their move. However, more than half the grid remains to be defined, including three seats in the family teams Red Bull. The excellent start to the season of Sergio Perez seems to have increased the chances of a renewal of the Mexican, even if the availability of Carlos Sainz there remains a pitfall on the market. In RBInstead, Yuki Tsunoda is unexpectedly regulating a disappointing Daniel RicciardoWhile Liam Lawson paws. Interviewed by Small newspaper, Helmut Marko took stock of the situation, revealing some interesting details on the situations linked to the Spaniard and the New Zealander.
Photo: Florent Gooden / DPPI
“Checo is clearly having his best season since racing with us.” – admitted the Austrian – “If he can maintain a similar level of performance to that of qualifying in Japan, he represents the best option for Red Bull in 2025. He is a true team man and has understood that last year he took a completely wrong direction in terms of setup choices. Now the setup he uses on his car is similar to Max’s, and this helps him. […] Sainz? We’re talking about with him, for now this is his best season in F1. However, he received a very important offer from Audi. We cannot equal it or surpass it. We have known him since his days at Toro Rosso, when he raced in a team with Max, but he suffered a lot when we chose to promote Max and not him to Red Bull.”
Even more particular is the situation of RB, where Marko confirmed that he has to place Liam Lawson in 2025 so as not to lose him to another team: “Yuki started the season very well and is no longer as impulsive as in the past. After just four races not much can be said, but he has Ricciardo under control. As for Daniel, he had to beat Yuki soundly to have a chance of returning to Red Bull. This didn’t happen, although it was close in Japan, so we’ll see how the situation develops. We also have a very good reserve driver, Liam Lawson, who by contract he has the right to drive for another team if we cannot find him a seat in 2025. From this perspective, it would be interesting for us to evaluate him in F1 already this year to have an even clearer picture. However, this is a complex issue, we need to see what to do.”
Foto copertina: Red Bull Content Pool