F1 News
How does Helmut Marko push Red Bull juniors? 'Difficult but pays off'
There is no doubt in the world of Formula One that Helmut Marko has the eye for spotting young talents in the sport. Talking in the F1 Nation podcast, the latest full-time driver on the grid, Liam Lawson talked about how Marko's method helped him prepare for competing in Formula One.
Helmut Marko works closely with Red Bull's drivers, as well as the juniors in all categories. Many, have previously talked about how the top advisor wakes them up in the morning with phone calls, and Liam Lawson is no different. After he began the current season as Red Bull's reserve driver, after the Singapore Grand Prix, it was announced that he will replace Daniel Ricciardo until the end of the season, when the team will re-evaluate once again.
"It's normally a 6 a.m. phone call or something like that. And it'll be, 'you need to perform better'. He said that, 'Next weekend, if you don't perform better, you're in trouble. You need to basically win races. You need to, basically, it's quite often if you haven't had a good race, if this continues, you don't have a future with this team.' It's very cutthroat," Lawson shared his experience with the Austrian.
According to the latest full-time VCARB driver, that only helped him in his career, and believes Marko's methods work really well. As an example, Lawson also brought up last season when he had to replace an injured Ricciardo. "I'm so thankful to have gone through that with Helmut. (...) Without having that kind of pressure from a young age, I don't think stepping in at this late of the season or stepping in last year, for example, as well. I don't think I would have been able to deal with it without having gone through five years of having Helmut."
Lawson struggled at the beginning
It was not easy to get used to the pressure Red Bull put on their junior drivers, says the New Zealander. "The hardest part is when you're very young. And for me, it was when I was 16 years old and 17 years old, my first year with Red Bull. That was, going from not being with a junior team and just having, my guys from New Zealand who have helped me get to where I was at that point to then have Red Bull Racing and have Dr. Marko calling and putting the pressure on you. And that was what I really struggled to deal with. So to be honest, since then, because it's always been like that."
The advisor has not stopped putting pressure on his drivers since Lawson's announcement as well, as Marko has declared even as the Mexican has a contract for next season, Sergio Perez's seat is not set in stone depending on his and the two VCARB drivers' results.
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