Helmut Marko: "Not bringing Hamilton to Red Bull was a tactical error"

F1 News

10 September 2019 at 17:31
2
  • Louis Shaw
  • Editor

Lewis Hamilton moved to Mercedes at the end of the 2012 season, because Niki Lauda had persuaded him to leave McLaren. It has been revealed that there were also talks between Hamilton and Helmut Marko from Red Bull Racing, but the Austrian adviser later encouraged Lauda to go for him. Afterwards, Marko admitted he made a tactical error. 

"Lewis was unhappy with McLaren and there was no free place with us. Then I thought it would be better if he went to Mercedes and we massively supported Lauda from Lewis," Marko said to Motorsport-Total.com.

Marko's thinking was that as there was no space at Red Bull, keeping Hamilton at a weaker team (Mercedes at the time) would increase the likelihood of the Brit going to Red Bull. 

"McLaren was our strongest opponent at the time. In retrospect, it would have been much better if he had stayed with McLaren. Now you can see how tactical you can sometimes be wrong." 

The Austrian SportWoche was initially responsible for the rumors that Hamilton had spoken with Red Bull and this was their cover today.