'I won the race, but Marko was angry because I didn't set the fastest lap'

Vergne talks candidly about his Formula 1 career in the new podcast episode. Not only is there a lot of talk about Toro Rosso, but also about Helmut Marko, the advisor of that team and Red Bull Racing. The French driver admits it wasn't easy to work with him, partly because it was never good enough. He lost the race in Monaco, but then Marko told him to make sure he won the next race.

"The race after, he said: 'you better win.' I won the race after that one. He called me and told me off because I didn’t drive the fastest lap. I had won two races, [secured] two pole positions, but I didn’t have the fastest lap. Now I can see the humour, but when you’re young that is quite tough,” he explains.

Time in Formula E

After his time in Formula 1, Vergne decided to drive in Formula E for DS Techeetah. The championship appealed to him because everyone has the same car. So in Formula E it was time for him to prove to Helmut Marko that he could do it, but even when he got pole position there, Marko had comments.

"Helmut Marko was at this race and he came to me and said: 'I’m surprised that you are slow in qualifying.' I told him 'you know very well that [Danill] Kvyat always had ten kilos less than me and that I could not even say it in the press,'" the Frenchman said.

Kvyat always had a lighter car in Formula 1, making it difficult for him to do as well with the heavier car. He therefore felt reborn when he started driving in a championship where all the cars are the same. "I felt like we were moving a bag full of stone and that I could finally run again. It was a liberation.”