Marko pleads Red Bull's case: 'It's not blackmail, it's a fact!'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Following Honda's announcement to leave Formula 1, Red Bull Racing has to hurry to find another engine supplier or continue Honda's project themselves. Helmut Marko now explains what he has been doing lately and what the team's plans are.
It seemed like a successful collaboration, but after a season and a half with Red Bull Racing, Honda has chosen to pull the plug on the Formula 1 project. After the 2021 season, the team of Max Verstappen will be without an engine supplier.
Helmut Marko is therefore working hard to ensure that Red Bull can take over Honda's engines. "I was in Japan to draw up a financial concept on whether and how we can use the power unit ourselves from 2022 onwards. It looks like we can handle that," the advisor says hopefully to Auto Bild Motorsport.
A perfect plan?
In order for the plan to succeed, Red Bull depends not only on Honda, but also on the other teams in Formula 1. "The deciding factor is whether the engines will be frozen in their development from 2022. Otherwise we don't have the capacity to operate these very complicated engines. This is not blackmail, this is a fact."
Mercedes has already agreed with the plan and also Ferrari are leaning towards agreeing. Only Renault is still ahead of Red Bull, but according to Helmut Marko, the plan is in everyone's favour. "It's not just us who are lobbying. The FIA and Liberty Media are also interested. A freeze would also drastically reduce costs. The same would mean that the new rules would have to be implemented sooner. This also applies to synthetic fuels. There would only be winners in the end," concludes the top man at Red Bull Racing.