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Marko had Mercedes engine agreement, but leading figure vetoed it
- Corwin Kunst
One of the greatest rivals in modern F1 history almost struck a deal during the hybrid era, Helmut Marko declared in the Inside Line F1 Podcast. According to Red Bull's top advisor, he had a 'handshake' deal lined up with Niki Lauda, but it was Toto Wolff who vetoed the agreement. As a result, the team moved to Honda, and won several championships with the Japanese supplier.
While from 2010 until 2013, Red Bull remained undefeated in the constructors' championship, but entering the hybrid era, the French supplier were unable to keep up with Mercedes, causing many heated arguements in the media between the two sides. Top advisor Helmut Marko understood that with Renault, returning to be successful was not possible.
"Our engine supplier unfortunately couldn't make a competitive engine," Marko began. "There was quite a big rivalry with Mercedes, and also our boss was not a big fan. And we said listen with our engine we can't motivate people anymore because everybody knows with this engine you can't win."
Wolff rejects sending engines to Mercedes
At a result, Marko contacted Niki Lauda, the German team's advisor at the time. It was a "handshake deal", but it was eventually called off. "It was not supported by Toto [Wolff]. So the deal didn't happen," Marko said. Attention shifted to Honda, despite the Japanese not getting it right with McLaren in the first few years after their return to Formula 1.
"I had some inside information what they [Honda] are planning to do," the 81-year-old Austrian continued. "So yes we go ahead we take this risk, which I believe it wasn't a risk, because I knew how much they spent. So they were serious about it so then we changed to an engine which at that moment was, as Alonso said F2 style of power, something like that. We always took brave decisions so a little bit, no risk, no fun," Marko concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi
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