Helmut Marko defends the hard Red Bull system with their young pilots
The brand of energizing drinks has 20% of the F1 grill cars and many of its runners emerged from the lower ones. Some succeeded and others were erased from a stroke.
The Red Bull Junior Team is the talent collection and development program that the brand of energy drinks began in 2001, quite before disembarking as a team in Formula 1. Helmut Marko, Expiloto and personal advisor to Dietrich Mateschitz, who had 49% of the actions of the Thai-Austrian company and died in 2022, is the man who managed the scheme since his birth. 24 years later, Red Bull has two teams in the World Cup and a large list of graduated runners in their academy that reached the highest category. In some cases, success wrapped them, in others, they quickly flew through the air in the absence of results and Marko’s strong hand.
The Austrian always handled the lower rhythm. To his strong character it is added that once a pilot enters the program, all the costs of the sports campaign run on account of Red Bull, do not bring any money closer, as can happen in other academies. So, When Marko sees failures or lack of performance, the road is the immediate exit door. The majority pierced her even before sitting in a f1 car.
In recent statements to F1-Insider, Marko defended his way of working. “I maintain the decisions I made. We must bear in mind that more than 95% of the pilots who did not remain in our group, then went on to compete in Formula E, in WEC, DTM or elsewhere. They earn good money, much more than what they could probably earn in another profession and then do what they love, that is, to compete in car races. That was possible mainly thanks to our participation. Summit, and requires not only talent, but also special characteristics and a certain strength, both mental and physical in general, ”said the Expileot.
In total, 17 Red Bull Junior Team graduated pilots occupied seats in the company’s F1 teams. Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, both with four titles in the main team, were the most successful. They also ran on Red Bull Christian Klien, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Daniel Ricciardo, Daniil Kvyat, Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsuonda.
Within the list of those who arrived at the Milton Keyenes team there are cases that were crushed by Marko. Gasly was just 12 races as a partner of Verstappen, until it was degraded. Albon held his post and endured 26 great awards, before being sent to the DTM (Thai returned to the World Cup with Williams). Kvyat ran 21 races before being replaced by Verstappen. The Lawson broke all records: it was barely in the first two appointments of 2025, before being sent to Racing Bulls, from where Tsunoda emerged. Everything to Marko’s rhythm.
Red Bull did not always have pilots arising from his lower ones. David Coulhard, Mark Webber and Checo Pérez passed through there. The Mexican ran 90 races with Milton Keynes team in four seasons and celebrated five successes. Although, according to Marko, the Tapatío could never have arrived at the Austrian house because Nico Hülkenberg was chosen to be a Max’s partner in 2021. “There were beginnings of conversations, but then Pérez won that race in Baréin (NDER: 2020 with Racing Point, today Aston Martin) and because of that, he turned in the direction of Pérez. It would have been a very pleasant moment They get along very well. ”
Toro Rosso, Alpha Tauri and Racing Bulls is the name that took the second Red Bull team since in 2006 the beverage house bought mine. There were several graduates of the Austrian Academy: Scott Speed (shared the development program with the Argentine Matías Milla), Sébastien Buemi, Jaime Algersuari, Brendon Hartley, Jean-Eric Vergne, Carlos Sainz and Isack Hadjar. Precisely the Frenchman, for many the best Rookie of 2025, sounds strong as a companion of Verstappen by 2026, although from their environment they prefer to avoid a leap that can swallow their career as already happened with other pilots who shared a roof with the Dutch. Who is the next pilot who has all the numbers to graduate from the Academy? The English Arvid Lindblad.
