Helmut Marko has never been one to hide a missed opportunity – but now, with the benefit of hindsight, the former Red Bull powerbroker has opened the door on one of Formula 1’s great what-ifs: Lando Norris in Red Bull colours.
Fresh off his retirement from active duty in F1, Marko has revealed that the reigning world champion was once firmly on the team’s radar – and, in his view, would have slotted in seamlessly alongside Max Verstappen.
Norris arrives in this conversation as no ordinary driver. The Briton sealed his maiden world championship last season in dramatic fashion, edging Verstappen by just two points at the Yas Marina finale to deliver McLaren its first Drivers’ title since 2008.
But according to Marko, Norris’ destiny could easily have been rewritten long before that title fight ever materialised.
“We had, at a very early stage, a negotiation with Lando Norris, and in the end, we didn’t get him,” Marko told Tom Clarkson on the latter’s Beyond the Grid podcast.
The discussions didn’t stop there. Norris had already been part of the McLaren junior programme since 2017, yet as far back as 2016 he could have found himself at Toro Rosso – now Racing Bulls – had circumstances fallen differently.
And when Formula 1 entered the ground-effect era in 2022, the possibility of a switch resurfaced once more.
For Marko, the appeal was obvious.
“Yes, I think he would have fitted very well to us,” he asserted. “But on the other hand, we can’t have everybody. We are looking for champions.”
Marko Defends Hard Line Approach
The 82-year-old was then asked reveling follow-up: whether there was any driver he had cut from the Red Bull junior programme who perhaps deserved more patience.
It was a question that cut straight to the heart of Marko’s legacy. His stewardship of Red Bull’s young driver pipeline was famously uncompromising — a system built on ruthless evaluation and immediate results.
Yet its success is undeniable. Under his watch, Red Bull produced multiple world champions in Max Verstappen and Sebastian Vettel, while Grand Prix winners such as Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly also emerged from the programme.
Marko, however, rejected the suggestion that impatience had cost Red Bull future stars.
“No, that’s not the case,” he said. “But, it was the opposite. A lot of drivers where I thought they could do great. They didn’t in the end.
“Nearly all had the talent, but they were not seriously working, or they hadn’t the mental strength which is necessary, because they believed once they are from Formula 2, going to Formula 1, someone is carrying their helmet, and their life is nice. But, it’s the opposite.
“The pressure is double as much, and you have to deliver every lap. So in this pressure, not many could stand.”
In typical Marko fashion, the verdict was blunt and unapologetic: raw speed might earn an opportunity, but only mental steel keeps a driver alive in Formula 1’s most unforgiving environment.
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