Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko insists that Cyril Abiteboul will not join the Milton-Keynes outfit, dismissing rumors that suggested so.
Abiteboul spent 7 seasons as the managing director of Renault’s F1 team. Ahead of their rebranding to Alpine in 2021, the Frenchman left his role as team boss, and has been away from the sport ever since.
The 44-year old was involved in a fierce rivalry with Red Bull team principal Christian Horner during his time in F1. Their off track verbal exchanges were well documented in Netflix’s Drive to Survive docuseries. That is why, rumors linking him to move to the team, came as a surprise for many.
Red Bull, who have now parted ways with Honda will soon be starting their own powertrain department. Abiteboul, to the shock of many, emerged as the rumored candidate to head this new program.
Mercedes F1 and Red Bull F1 today reached an agreement regarding the appointment of Ben Hodgkinson.
Under the terms of that agreement, Ben, who joined Mercedes in August 2001, will be free to join Red Bull Powertrains from 24 May 2022. pic.twitter.com/8H3Jh9dPQ3
— Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) January 21, 2022
Marko on the other hand, cleared the air surrounding these rumors. He labeled them as ‘nonsense’ and insisted that the former Caterham team principal was never considered to lead the project.
“I really don’t know where this nonsense comes from,” said Marko. “It’s absolute nonsense. Ben Hodgkinson is and will remain the leader of our engine project. We hope that he can start working as soon as possible.”
Marko expects Red Bull and Mercedes to be on each others’ toes once again in 2022
The 2021 season saw one of the most exciting Championship battles of all time. The year long tussle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton was decided on the very last lap of the season finale; falling in favor of the former.
With regulation changes set to stir up the 2022 F1 grid, many have wondered if Red Bull and Mercedes have what it takes to pick up where they left off. Marko certainly seems to think so.
“We had two different development programs running in 202 and both worked.” the 78-year old said.
“All I can say is that we want to defend Max Verstappen’s title and are very well positioned to do so.”
“There’s no reason to believe that Mercedes and we aren’t the favorites again this year. Unless someone has found the philosopher’s stone in the new regulations.”
Also read: Jamie Chadwick to team up with former Red Bull driver at the 2022 Race of Champions
