Rarely a week goes by without there being a bizarre driver transfer rumor in F1, and more often than not, they die down quickly. Helmut Marko, however, took the paddock by storm — like he does — when he revealed that Oscar Piastri wanted to ditch McLaren for Red Bull. But as it turns out, it was just Marko being Marko.
The 81-year-old, who has a habit of making bold claims, spoke about Piastri’s management contacting Red Bull for a potential spot on the Milton Keynes-based team. Piastri himself denied those claims. Plus, F1 expert Adam Wylde explained perfectly well why it is unlikely Piastri would join Red Bull.
Like all F1 drivers, Piastri has a management group, which is headed by Mark Webber — a former Red Bull driver himself. But Webber did not end his stint with the team that amicably, which makes it unlikely that he approached them to house a driver whom he mentors.
“Mark Webber does not speak very kindly of Helmut Marko in his autobiography…” Wylde said on the Nailing the Apex podcast. “Especially, with how the Sebastian Vettel situation was handled…”
Mark Webber is “intensively” chasing Red Bull to talk about his client Oscar Piastri, according to Helmut Marko.
Imagine pic.twitter.com/SBpZJxv21l
— Autosport (@autosport) October 24, 2024
Wylde was, of course, referring to how Red Bull prioritized Vettel during the German driver’s time as Webber’s teammate. Webber’s efforts to compete for the world championship were mostly affected because Red Bull — Marko in particular — wanted Vettel to shine.
“[He] made things extremely difficult for Mark, when Mark thought, ‘Why are you making it more difficult on me? Why don’t you make it difficult on the nine or ten other teams…”
Going by what Wylde stated, it is extremely improbable that Webber would approach Marko to get Piastri a place. But the Austrian is not a one-man team.
Red Bull boss’ Webber headache
Webber’s time at Red Bull was widely overshadowed by his teammate Vettel’s four consecutive championships. A lot of times, when the Aussie felt he deserved to finish P1, Red Bull would prioritize Vettel, since he would be in a better place as a title contender.
A famous example was Multi 21, an infamous incident in Malaysia in 2013, which saw Vettel ignore team orders, and overtake Webber to take away a win that was rightfully his. The Aussie was livid, and publicly called out Red Bull and team principal Christian Horner, which ultimately went in vain because they did nothing to penalize Vettel.
Happy Multi 21 day to all who celebrate! ️ pic.twitter.com/6bEydYZW2H
— Motorsport.com (@Motorsport) March 24, 2023
Years later, when Horner was asked which of his Red Bull drivers gave him the biggest headaches, he mentioned Webber, as Wylde recalled.
Although Horner noted that in both F1 and business, one often has to work with people they don’t necessarily like, he hinted that Marko’s comments about Piastri being linked to Milton Keynes might simply be ‘mind games.’
