Helmut Marko is often hailed as a hard taskmaster who has served Red Bull loyally. While some might question his methods, Marko holds a reputation for nurturing talents like Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen. Oliver Oakes, who is now working with Alpine as their team principal, is another talent who was once under Marko’s tutelage.
Having won the World Karting Championship, Oakes was hailed as one of the most sought-after upcoming drivers. Recognizing his talent, Red Bull roped him in to join their young driver program. While he continued to progress through the feeder series championships, Oakes began to lose steam.
In his second year with the Red Bull Academy, Oakes was competing in Formula Renault. That turned out to be an underwhelming season, which led to Marko dropping him from their lineup. As he recalled the times on F1’s Beyond The Grid Podcast, host Tom Clarkson asked if Marko’s ‘fearsome’ image, curated by his drivers, was justified.
Oli Oakes is a racer in the truest sense. He’s driven himself (2005 world karting champion) and he’s run successful teams in the junior formulas (Hitech). He knows what to do; I’m excited to see what effect he’ll have on Alpine #F1BeyondTheGrid https://t.co/aUwNjtRBhg
— Tom Clarkson (@TomClarksonF1) November 20, 2024
“No. On a personal level, he’s been really good to me over the years. It was slightly odd that I was a junior driver with him and he’d asked me to go and help scout some young talent. And then, some of them would drive for my team (Team Oakes Racing and Hitech GP). Now, he’s given me some good advice,” replied Oakes.
“I’d say, he’s got a bit softer. He might hate me saying that publicly, but Helmut was always hard but fair,” he concluded.
Marko’s ‘fearsome’ image, as Clarkson pointed out, is indeed a product of the testimonials given by the drivers who have worked under him. Some of those stories were downright controversial and left Red Bull with a PR headache.
When an ex-Red Bull junior blamed Marko for his mental trauma
Born to a motorcycle racer father, Jaime Alguersuari always had the racing blood in him. The Spaniard took a different path and chose four wheels for himself, though.
In no time, he was recognized as a rising talent and caught Red Bull’s attention at the age of 15. Thanks to their guidance, Alguersuari realized his dream of driving in F1 through their junior team, Toro Rosso (now RB).
He raced for the outfit for three seasons, and sadly, those years turned out to be traumatizing for him. In a 2022 interview, he admitted to waking up crying in the middle of the night after having dreams of Marko telling him off.
“I’ll tell you one thing: I still dream, when I sleep I have very strange dreams, very strange dreams of that whole time. Especially of the impotence and frustration of never getting there, of seeing Mr. Marko always angry, telling me off. As if we were children. I see myself like that,” Alguersuari told El Confidencial.
Days later, Alguersuari issued a ‘clarification’, hailing Marko for ‘pushing and boosting him forward and beyond’. He also expressed gratitude towards Marko for making him ‘disciplined and dedicated’.
