Helmut Marko
Helmut Marko is an Austrian former racing driver and motorsport executive who competed in Formula One at 10 Grands Prix from to. In endurance racing, Marko won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in with Martini. He founded RSM Marko in 1984, which later became the Red Bull Junior Team; from to, he served as an adviser to Red Bull Racing and its related teams in Formula One, winning six World Constructors' Championship titles between and.
Born and raised in Austria, Marko progressed to sportscar racing by the late-1960s after completing his doctorate in law at the University of Graz. Finding success in the European Touring Car Championship and becoming a class winner at the 1970 [24 Hours of Le Mans] with Martini, Marko progressed to the premier class the following year and won the race in then-record distance alongside Gijs van Lennep. Less than two months later, Marko debuted in Formula One with Bonnier at the, driving a privateer McLaren M7C. He joined BRM for the remainder of the season, and retained his seat in. Marko was seriously injured during the 1972 French Grand Prix, when debris projected by the March of Ronnie Peterson pierced his visor and left him permanently blinded in his left eye, ending his racing career aged 29.
Upon retiring from motor racing, Marko moved into team and driver management, founding RSM Marko in 1984, which became the Red Bull Junior Team in 1999. With Red Bull, Marko oversaw the development of two Formula One World Drivers' Champions—Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen—and was an adviser to Red Bull Racing from onwards, winning six World Constructors' Championships with the team; the graduates of his development programme have won a combined eight World Drivers' Championships and Grands Prix. He retired from his management roles at the end of.
Early life
Marko was born in Graz on 27 April 1943, during Nazi occupation of Austria in World War II. He attended school with and was a childhood friend of Jochen Rindt, who later posthumously won the Formula One World Drivers' Championship in. Marko graduated from the University of Graz in 1967 with a doctorate in law. He had ambitions to become a lawyer before pursuing a full-time motor racing career.Sportscar racing career
''Privateer'' (1966–1969)
Marko debuted in sportscar racing as a privateer in 1966, driving the Triumph Spitfire at Aspern.Martini (1970–1971)
Marko had success in endurance racing, winning the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving a Martini-Porsche 917K with Gijs van Lennep. During that year, they set a distance record which remained unbeaten until .Alfa Romeo (1972)
At the Targa Florio, Marko drove the fastest laps around the 72 km Sicilian mountain circuit in the 1972 race, catching up over two minutes on the leader within two laps to finish second by a mere 17 seconds. His fastest lap in the Alfa Romeo 33 was 33 min 41 sec, at an average of 128.253 km/h.Formula One career
Marko made his first entry in Formula One with Jo Bonnier's privateer outfit—Ecurie Bonnier—at the in, driving the McLaren M7C. He did not set a time in qualifying after completing free practice and thus did not start the Grand Prix.BRM (1971–1972)
1971: Debut with BRM under Stanley
Marko was invited by Louis Stanley to join BRM for his home Grand Prix in Austria onwards in, partnering Jo Siffert, Howden Ganley, and Peter Gethin in place of the deceased Pedro Rodríguez. His teammates all used the updated P160 chassis while Marko used a spare P153 from the previous season. Qualifying a tenth-of-a-second away from Gethin in seventeenth on debut, he finished eleventh, two laps down on race-winner Siffert. He qualified twelfth in Italy before an engine failure prompted his early retirement as teammate Gethin narrowly won. He outqualified the P160 of George Eaton by six-tenths in Canada, climbing from nineteenth to twelfth in the Grand Prix, ahead of Gethin. For the season-ending, Marko was handed the reins of the P160, where he finished thirteenth. With zero points from his five entries with Bonnier and BRM, he was not classified in the World Drivers' Championship.1972: Career-ending injury
Marko retained his seat at BRM for, again using the outdated P153 at the season-opening ; he qualified nineteenth and held off the March of Niki Lauda for tenth, one place behind Howden Ganley in the updated P160B, which he followed with fourteenth in South Africa. He was replaced for the by Alex Soler-Roig and returned in Monaco, where he qualified seventeenth and climbed to eighth in the iterated P153B as Jean-Pierre Beltoise won in the P160B. Qualifying twenty-third in Belgium, driving the P160, he was assigned the P153B qualified by Vern Schuppan—2.8 seconds behind Marko—for the Grand Prix and climbed to tenth.Marko was seriously injured during the at Clermont-Ferrand—held a few weeks after the Targa Florio—when a sharp volcanic rock projected by the March of Ronnie Peterson on the ninth lap pierced his visor and left him permanently blinded in his left eye, ending his racing career aged 29. He had opted for the new P160B chassis with a raised cockpit, a decision that Marko later said contributed to his injury, and qualified a career-highest sixth. His Formula One career ended with zero points from 10 Grands Prix and a best finish of eighth.
Management career
RSM Marko (1984–2003)
1984–1998: Early years
Marko was the manager for Austrian racing drivers Gerhard Berger and Karl Wendlinger for several years prior to founding RSM Marko in 1984, a racing team who competed in the Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft, Formula Three, and Formula 3000.Affiliation with Red Bull (1999–2003)
From 1999 onwards, RSM Marko operated under the name Red Bull Junior Team under sponsorship from Austrian energy drink conglomerate Red Bull GmbH. In 2001, the operation with Red Bull became their European driver development programme, led by Marko.Red Bull (2005–2025)
Until, Marko was an adviser to all Formula One teams owned by Red Bull, including Red Bull Racing from its debut season onwards and its sister team from onwards, which competed as Toro Rosso, AlphaTauri, and Racing Bulls. Marko administered their driver development programme from its founding, which saw 16 drivers progress to Formula One, including Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr., and Pierre Gasly. His Formula One graduates have won a combined eight World Drivers' Championship titles and Grands Prix; Vettel won four consecutive titles from to, which Verstappen repeated from to.2005–2009: Early years
Marko joined Red Bull Racing as an adviser for its debut season in, having overseen the Red Bull Junior Team since its founding as a driver development programme in 2001. He additionally joined sister team Toro Rosso when it debuted in. Austrian driver Christian Klein had previously graduated Marko's programme in with Jaguar. Over the next five seasons, five drivers graduated the programme: Vitantonio Liuzzi, Scott Speed, Sebastian Vettel, Sébastian Buemi, and Jaime Alguersuari. Klein and Liuzzi both featured in the Red Bull Racing's lineup for its debut campaign. Vettel claimed his maiden victory with Toro Rosso at the in and was subsequently promoted to the senior team, finishing runner-up to Jenson Button in.2010–2013: Consecutive titles with Vettel
From to, Sebastian Vettel won four consecutive World Drivers' Championships, becoming the youngest-ever World Drivers' Champion and the first title-winning graduate of the Junior Team. Two drivers graduated Marko's programme during this span: Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Éric Vergne.2014–2020: Rise of Ricciardo and promotion of Verstappen
As Mercedes dominated the new regulations in, Daniel Ricciardo displaced Sebastian Vettel as the lead Red Bull driver, prompting Vettel's move to Ferrari. Marko's graduate Daniil Kvyat served as his replacement for and. In the former season, Toro Rosso served as a training ground for Marko's latest protégés: 17-year-old Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz Jr. Verstappen was promoted to the senior team for the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix onwards, winning on debut to become the youngest-ever Grand Prix winner. He established himself as the lead driver over Ricciardo by the end of, after which graduate Pierre Gasly joined him. Marko replaced him with former member Alexander Albon mid-way through.2021–2024: Dominance with Verstappen and power struggles
From to, Marko protégé Max Verstappen won four consecutive World Drivers' Championship titles and 53 Grands Prix. As Verstappen saw off junior graduates Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon, Red Bull opted for Sergio Pérez as their replacement after private talks with Marko. Yuki Tsunoda and Liam Lawson debuted throughout this span. During this period, Marko and the Junior Team programme came under criticism for its cut-throat nature and recycling of talent as drivers fell shy of the mark set by Verstappen; in 2018, Damien Smith of Goodwood Road & Racing described it as "the hardest, most unforgiving school in motor sport".Marko faced scrutiny in September 2023 for his comments regarding Pérez's lack of form throughout the season, following the. Talking to Red Bull–owned broadcaster ServusTV, he was quoted saying "we know that he has problems in qualifying, he has fluctuations in form, he is South American and he is just not as completely focused in his head as is, or as Sebastian Vettel". Marko's comments were widely perceived as racially charged, with many pointing out that Pérez—a Mexican national—is not South American. Marko apologised on 8 September, stating "I was trying to make a point that has fluctuated in his performance this year, but it was wrong to attribute this to his cultural heritage." Pérez accepted Marko's apology on 14 September and the FIA reprimanded him the following day. In March 2024, Marko faced an internal investigation and possible suspension at Red Bull over leaking insider information regarding team principal Christian Horner's alleged misconduct. Verstappen defended Marko through the investigation, indicating that he would leave if Marko was dropped. He was cleared of the allegations following talks with Red Bull GmbH executive Oliver Mintzlaff.