Red Bull’s Helmut Marko is no stranger to delivering thought-provoking statements to the media. In his latest head-turning quotes, the 81-year-old has claimed that Oscar Piastri’s management is looking to enter negotiations with Red Bull.
Helmut Marko claims Piastri management is interested in Red Bull
Since joining McLaren at the beginning of 2023, Oscar Piastri has cemented himself as one of F1’s most promising young talents.
The Australian already has two race wins under his belt, with the most impressive coming after a titanic battle with Charles Leclerc at the Baku GP.
Still, Piastri’s 2024 campaign has not been exempt from controversy.
With Lando Norris looking to hunt down Max Verstappen in the standings, McLaren have asked Piastri to help his teammate – should the situation arise.
He did this at last weekend’s US GP, when McLaren ordered him to slow down to prevent Norris from losing an additional position from his 5-second time penalty.
Moving forward, Andrea Stella’s team are likely to face some headaches when managing their very evenly matched driver partnership.
Marko makes shock revelation about Oscar Piastri
Still, none of this creates much context for these explosive comments from Helmut Marko.
“Let’s put it this way,” he told F1-insider.
“Mark Webber [Piastri’s manager] is looking for intensive dialogue.”
These quotes have come out of nowhere, considering that Piastri is currently fighting for race wins at McLaren.
A departure from the Woking-based team seems extremely unlikely and, in light of Marko’s comments, difficult to rationalise.
Several drivers have struggled to match Max Verstappen’s performances at Red Bull. Therefore, leaving McLaren (this year’s fastest tea) to go up against the Dutchman seems like a lose-lose scenario.
When media day kicks off in Mexico, Oscar Piastri will almost certainly be questioned on these declarations from Helmut Marko.
Similarly, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner could be asked for comment on this issue. Whilst Piastri is undoubtedly a huge talent, the defending Champions have their own young drivers (Lawson and Tsunoda) that are viable options to replace Sergio Perez.
In any case, considering how unpredictable this year’s F1 market has been, it is worth following developments on this topic.
