Helmut Marko | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Marko at the2016 Austrian Grand Prix | |
| Born | (1943-04-27)27 April 1943 (age 82) |
| Formula One World Championship career | |
| Nationality |  Austrian |
| Active years | 1971–1972 |
| Teams | Bonnier,BRM |
| Entries | 10 (9 starts) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Wins | 0 |
| Podiums | 0 |
| Careerpoints | 0 |
| Pole positions | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 0 |
| First entry | 1971 German Grand Prix |
| Last entry | 1972 French Grand Prix |
| World Sportscar Championship career | |
| Years active | 1968–1972 |
| Teams | Lotus,Porsche,Martini,Alfa Romeo,Ferrari |
| Starts | 22 |
| Wins | 5 |
| Podiums | 12 |
| Poles | 3 |
| Fastest laps | 4 |
| 24 Hours of Le Mans career | |
| Years | 1970–1972 |
| Teams | Martini,Alfa Romeo |
| Best finish | 1st(1971) |
| Class wins | 2(1970,1971) |
Helmut Marko (born 27 April 1943) is an Austrian formerracing driver andmotorsport executive who competed inFormula One at 10Grands Prix from1971 to1972. Inendurance racing, Marko won the24 Hours of Le Mans in1971 withMartini. He foundedRSM Marko in 1984, which later became theRed Bull Junior Team; from2005 to2025, he served as an adviser toRed Bull Racing and itsrelated teams in Formula One, winning sixWorld Constructors' Championship titles between2010 and2023.
Born and raised inAustria, Marko progressed tosportscar racing by the late-1960s after completing hisdoctorate in law at theUniversity of Graz. Finding success in theEuropean Touring Car Championship and becoming a class winner at the1970 24 Hours of Le Mans withMartini, Marko progressed to the premier class thefollowing year and won the race in then-record distance alongsideGijs van Lennep. Less than two months later, Marko debuted in Formula One withBonnier at theGerman Grand Prix, driving aprivateerMcLaren M7C. He joinedBRM for the remainder of the1971 season, and retained his seat in1972. Marko was seriously injured during the1972 French Grand Prix, when debris projected by theMarch ofRonnie Peterson pierced hisvisor 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, foundingRSM Marko in 1984, which became theRed Bull Junior Team in 1999. WithRed Bull, Marko oversaw the development of twoFormula One World Drivers' Champions—Sebastian Vettel andMax Verstappen—and was an adviser toRed Bull Racing from2005 onwards, winning sixWorld Constructors' Championships with the team; the graduates of hisdevelopment programme have won a combined eightWorld Drivers' Championships and 137Grands Prix. He retired from his management roles at the end of2025.
.jpg)
Marko was born inGraz on 27 April 1943, duringNazi occupation of Austria inWorld War II.[citation needed] He attended school with and was a childhood friend ofJochen Rindt, who later posthumously won theFormula One World Drivers' Championship in1970.[1] Marko graduated from theUniversity of Graz in 1967 with adoctorate in law.[2] He had ambitions to become alawyer before pursuing a full-timemotor racing career.[3]
Marko debuted insportscar racing as aprivateer in 1966, driving theTriumph Spitfire atAspern.[4]
.jpg)
Marko had success inendurance racing, winning the1971 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving aMartini-Porsche 917K withGijs van Lennep.[citation needed] During that year, they set a distance record which remained unbeaten until2010 (5,335.313 km, at an average of 222.304 km/h).[citation needed]
At theTarga 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 theAlfa Romeo 33 was 33 min 41 sec, at an average of 128.253 km/h.[5]
Marko made his first entry in Formula One withJo Bonnier'sprivateer outfit—Ecurie Bonnier—at theGerman Grand Prix in1971, driving theMcLaren M7C.[citation needed] He did not set a time in qualifying after completingfree practice and thus did not start the Grand Prix.[6]
.webp)
Marko was invited byLouis Stanley to joinBRM for hishome Grand Prix in Austria onwards in1971, partneringJo Siffert,Howden Ganley, andPeter Gethin in place of the deceasedPedro Rodríguez.[3][7] His teammates all used the updatedP160 chassis while Marko used a spareP153 from theprevious season.[citation needed] Qualifying a tenth-of-a-second away from Gethin in seventeenth on debut, he finished eleventh, two laps down on race-winner Siffert.[citation needed] He qualified twelfth inItaly before an engine failure prompted his early retirement as teammate Gethin narrowly won.[8] He outqualified the P160 ofGeorge Eaton by six-tenths inCanada,[citation needed] climbing from nineteenth to twelfth in the Grand Prix, ahead of Gethin.[citation needed] For the season-endingUnited States Grand Prix, Marko was handed the reins of the P160, where he finished thirteenth.[citation needed] With zeropoints from his five entries with Bonnier and BRM, he wasnot classified in theWorld Drivers' Championship.[note 1]
Marko retained his seat at BRM for1972, again using the outdatedP153 at the season-openingArgentine Grand Prix;[citation needed] he qualified nineteenth and held off theMarch ofNiki Lauda for tenth, one place behindHowden Ganley in the updatedP160B,[citation needed] which he followed with fourteenth inSouth Africa.[citation needed] He was replaced for theSpanish Grand Prix byAlex Soler-Roig and returned inMonaco, where he qualified seventeenth and climbed to eighth in the iteratedP153B asJean-Pierre Beltoise won in the P160B.[citation needed][citation needed] Qualifying twenty-third inBelgium, driving the P160, he was assigned the P153B qualified byVern Schuppan—2.8 seconds behind Marko—for the Grand Prix and climbed to tenth.[10]
Marko was seriously injured during theFrench Grand Prix atClermont-Ferrand—held a few weeks after theTarga Florio—when a sharpvolcanic rock projected by theMarch ofRonnie Peterson on the ninth lap pierced hisvisor and left him permanentlyblinded in his left eye, ending his racing career aged 29.[note 2][11][12][13][14] He had opted for the newP160B chassis with a raisedcockpit, a decision that Marko later said contributed to his injury,[3] and qualified a career-highest sixth.[citation needed] His Formula One career ended with zeropoints from 10 Grands Prix and a best finish of eighth.[citation needed]
.jpg)
Marko was the manager for Austrian racing driversGerhard Berger andKarl Wendlinger for several years prior to foundingRSM Marko in 1984, a racing team who competed in theDeutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft,Formula Three, andFormula 3000.[citation needed]
From 1999 onwards, RSM Marko operated under the nameRed Bull Junior Team under sponsorship from Austrianenergy drink conglomerateRed Bull GmbH.[citation needed] In 2001, the operation with Red Bull became their Europeandriver development programme, led by Marko.[citation needed]
Until2025, Marko was an adviser to all Formula One teams owned by Red Bull, includingRed Bull Racing from its debut2005 season onwards and its sister team from2006 onwards, which competed asToro Rosso (2006–2019),AlphaTauri (2020–2023), andRacing Bulls (2024–2025).[15] Marko administered theirdriver development programme from its founding, which saw 16 drivers progress to Formula One, includingSebastian Vettel,Daniel Ricciardo,Max Verstappen,Carlos Sainz Jr., andPierre Gasly.[citation needed] His Formula One graduates have won a combined eightWorld Drivers' Championship titles and 137Grands Prix; Vettel won four consecutive titles from2010 to2013, which Verstappen repeated from2021 to2024.[citation needed]
Marko joinedRed Bull Racing as an adviser for its debut season in2005, having overseen theRed Bull Junior Team since its founding as adriver development programme in 2001. He additionally joined sister teamToro Rosso when it debuted in2006. Austrian driverChristian Klein had previously graduated Marko's programme in2004 withJaguar. Over the next five seasons, five drivers graduated the programme:Vitantonio Liuzzi (2005),Scott Speed (2006),Sebastian Vettel (2007),Sébastian Buemi (2009), andJaime Alguersuari (2009). 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 theItalian Grand Prix in2008 and was subsequently promoted to the senior team, finishing runner-up toJenson Button in2009.
From2010 to2013,Sebastian Vettel won four consecutiveWorld 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 (2011) andJean-Éric Vergne (2012).
AsMercedes dominated the new regulations in2014,Daniel Ricciardo displacedSebastian Vettel as the lead Red Bull driver, prompting Vettel's move toFerrari. Marko's2014 graduateDaniil Kvyat served as his replacement for2015 and2016. In the former season, Toro Rosso served as a training ground for Marko's latest protégés: 17-year-oldMax Verstappen andCarlos Sainz Jr. Verstappen was promoted to the senior team for the2016 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 of2018, after which2017 graduatePierre Gasly joined him. Marko replaced him with former memberAlexander Albon mid-way through2019.
From2021 to2024, Marko protégéMax Verstappen won four consecutive World Drivers' Championship titles and 53 Grands Prix. As Verstappen saw off junior graduatesPierre Gasly andAlexander Albon, Red Bull opted forSergio Pérez as their replacement after private talks with Marko.[16]Yuki Tsunoda (2021) andLiam Lawson (2023) 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;[17][18] in 2018, Damien Smith ofGoodwood Road & Racing described it as "the hardest, most unforgiving school in motor sport".[19]
Marko faced scrutiny in September 2023 for his comments regarding Pérez's lack of form throughout the2023 season, following theItalian Grand Prix. Talking toRed Bull–owned broadcasterServusTV, 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 [Verstappen] is, or asSebastian Vettel".[20][21] Marko's comments were widely perceived as racially charged, with many pointing out that Pérez—aMexican national—is not South American.[21] Marko apologised on 8 September, stating "I was trying to make a point that [Pérez] has fluctuated in his performance this year, but it was wrong to attribute this to his cultural heritage."[20][22] Pérez accepted Marko's apology on 14 September and theFIA reprimanded him the following day.[23][24] In March 2024, Marko faced an internal investigation and possible suspension at Red Bull over leaking insider information regarding team principalChristian Horner's alleged misconduct.[25] Verstappen defended Marko through the investigation, indicating that he would leave if Marko was dropped.[25] He was cleared of the allegations following talks withRed Bull GmbH executiveOliver Mintzlaff.[26]
With Red Bull's decision to releaseSergio Pérez for2025, Marko replaced him withLiam Lawson, who himself was replaced byYuki Tsunoda after two Grands Prix. Marko attracted controversy over his comments regarding debut graduateIsack Hadjar's crash on theformation lap of theAustralian Grand Prix.[27][28] He described the incident as "embarrassing", with Hadjar later admitting he was also embarrassed.[27] He later falsely claimed thatKimi Antonelli allowedLando Norris to pass him at theQatar Grand Prix to aid his title bid againstMax Verstappen, prompting online abuse anddeath threats towards Antonelli.[29] Marko retired from his management positions at the conclusion of the2025 season,[30] with his final graduate—Arvid Lindblad—set to debut in2026.
Marko owns four hotels inGraz: theSchlossberghotel,Augartenhotel,Lendhotel, andKai 36. He is an avidart collector and curates the pieces displayed within his hotels.[31]
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Bosch Racing Team Vienna | Lotus Europa | Renault 807 1.6I4 | GT 1.6 | DAY | SEB | BRH | MZA | TGA DNA | NÜR | SPA | WGN | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bosch Racing Team | Porsche 906 | Porsche Type 901/20 2.0F6 | S 2.0 | ZEL 1 | LMS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1969 | Richard Gerin | Porsche 910 | Porsche Type 901/20 2.0F6 | S 2.0 | DAY | SEB | LMS | BRH | MZA | TGA | SPA | NÜR | WGN | ÖST 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1970 | Martini International Racing Team | Porsche 908/02 | Porsche Type 908/02 3.0F8 | P 3.0 | DAY | SEB | BRH | MZA | TGA | SPA 2 | NÜR 3 | LMS 1 | WGN 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Porsche KG Salzburg | Porsche 917K | Porsche Type 912 4.5F12 | S 5.0 | ÖST Ret | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1971 | Martini International Racing Team | Porsche 917K | Porsche Type 912 4.5F12 | S 5.0 | BUE Ret | DAY Ret | SEB | BRH | MZA Ret | SPA Ret | TGA | LMS 1 | ÖST Ret | WGN | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Porsche 908/03 | Porsche Type 908/03 3.0F8 | P 3.0 | NÜR 3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1972 | Autodelta SpA | Alfa Romeo T33/3 | Alfa Romeo 3.0V8 | S 3.0 | BUE 4 | DAY 3 | SEB Ret | BRH 6 | SPA DNA | TGA 2 | NÜR 3 | LMS Ret | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bosch Racing Team | Porsche 908/02 | Porsche Type 908/02 3.0F8 | S 3.0 | MZA DNS | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ferrari SpA | Ferrari 312 PB | Ferrari Tipo 001 3.0F12 | S 3.0 | ÖST 2 | WGN | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source:[4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 |  Martini International Racing Team | Rudi Lins | Porsche 908/2LH | P 3.0 | 335 | 3rd | 1st | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1971 | Martini International Racing Team |  Gijs van Lennep | Porsche 917K | S 5.0 | 397 | 1st | 1st | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1972 |  Autodelta SpA |  Vic Elford | Alfa Romeo Tipo 33TT3 | S 3.0 | 232 | DNF | DNF | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source:[4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
(key) (Races inbold indicate pole position; races initalics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Team | Car | Class | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | DC | Pts | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | BMW-Alpina | BMW 1600 | C | BRH | SNE | THR | SIL | CRY | SIL | SIL 7 | CRO | BRH | OUL | BRH | BRH | 40th | 4 | 14th |
Source:[32] | ||||||||||||||||||
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Pos. | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Ecurie Bonnier | Lola T240 | Ford | HOC Ret | THR | NÜR 8 | JAR Ret | PAL | ROU | 20th | 1 | |||||
| Constructions Mechanique Pygmée | Pygmée MDB16 | MAN Ret | TUL | ALB | VAL | VAL | ||||||||||
Source:[33] | ||||||||||||||||
(key)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | WDC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Ecurie Bonnier | McLarenM7C | Ford Cosworth DFV 3.0V8 | RSA | ESP | MON | NED | FRA | GBR | GER DNQ | NC | 0 | |||||
| Yardley-BRM | BRMP153 | BRM P142 3.0V12 | AUT 11 | ITA Ret | CAN 12 | ||||||||||||
| BRMP160 | USA 13 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1972 | Austria-Marlboro BRM | BRMP153 | BRM P142 3.0V12 | ARG 10 | RSA 14 | ESP | NC | 0 | |||||||||
| BRMP153B | MON 8 | BEL 10 | |||||||||||||||
| BRMP160B | FRA Ret | GBR | GER | AUT | ITA | CAN | USA | ||||||||||
Source:[34] | |||||||||||||||||
