Helmut Marko ‘happy’ to have lost gamble on Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull career
Helmut Marko recalled how he lost the gamble with Daniel Ricciardo after Max Verstappen's promotion to Red Bull.
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Daniel Ricciardo and Helmut Marko (via Getty)
Daniel Ricciardo joined Red Bull back in 2014 and started to perform well since his first season. The Australian defeated the dominant Sebastian Vettel back then despite the latter’s four consecutive championship wins. Max Verstappen joined Red Bull in the 2016 season and put Ricciardo to shame due to his performances.
Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko has been present on the team ever since Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen joined. Marko took a gamble on Verstappen and promoted him to Milton Keynes mid-way through the 2016 season. The Dutchman got up to speed from the get-go and scored a race win on his debut race at the Spanish GP.
Due to Verstappen’s pace against Ricciardo, the latter started to fall back in terms of performance. Marko recalled the ‘gamble’ he took on the Dutchman and how he won a debut race. However, the Austrian reckoned that if he postponed the 27-year-old’s arrival and bet more on the Aussie, the latter would’ve won a championship. Regardless, the 81-year-old declared that he had no regrets over his past decisions as Verstappen never looked back and recently took a fourth consecutive championship win.
A lot changed in that time. I decided very quickly to bet completely on Verstappen and things went a certain way. Max won a race straight away, in Spain. Maybe, if I had bet more on Ricciardo at that time by postponing Verstappen’s arrival at Red Bull a bit, Daniel might have won a title. But I did it differently and I don’t regret it at all. I’m happy that I lost the gamble on Ricciardo and won the gamble on Verstappen.
Helmut Marko told RacingNews365.nl
Max Verstappen on a ‘different class’ to Sebastian Vettel and current competitors
Max Verstappen kept up with performances in the 2024 season despite facing performance issues with Red Bull. The 27-year-old recently matched Sebastian Vettel‘s consecutive four championship wins at Milton Keynes. Due to this, Helmut Marko noted that Verstappen was a ‘different class’ than Vettel and his current rivals on the grid.
The choice fell on Max. To be honest, I think Max – compared to the current competition and also to Vettel himself – is in a different class. He is just on a completely different level.
Helmut Marko noted
Red Bull’s performance has taken a massive hit since the past seasons as they failed to contend for the constructors’ championship. Milton Keynes must find improvement in pace to keep Verstappen satisfied. The Dutchman has continued to receive massive offers from other teams and could consider a switch in teams if Red Bull doesn’t improve significantly.
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Aditya Pandya
(1452 Articles Published)