Helmut Marko is the head of the Red Bull Junior Team. However, It seems he has been way too hasty to axe drivers and now Marko has found himself without a driver to fill the Toro Rosso seat because the current junior are all without enough points for a superlicense.
For a long time, it seems Red Bull Racing have always been at the forefront of young drivers with their driver academy which has brought some very big names into the sport. The academy, formed in 2001 by Helmut Marko who started finding talent that he could take to formula one. Dr Marko has found himself in the situation of no longer having any drivers to race in formula one this year, and it almost seems he writes drivers off ever too quickly.
Now, there is a seat, possibly two seats, up for grabs at Toro Rosso. Marko has found himself with no talent to place in the car. Currently, he is having to look around at other drivers in other junior teams, the most widely rumoured driver to take that seat is McLaren Junior driver Lando Norris. But, drivers such as Artem Markelov already ruled himself out the drive saying : "Of my own volition I would not sit in the Toro Rosso," The Renault junior did not stop their with his scrutiny of Red Bull:
"Knowing Dr Marko, knowing how he ruins the careers of young drivers, I don't need that,"
Alexander Albon, he currently races in FIA Formula 2, he drove for the Red Bull Junior Team, in 2012, which seems a long time ago. The now 22-year-old seems very competitive and very much ready for a race seat in formula 1. He currently has no backing, why? Because in 2012 after one bad season in Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 he found himself dropped from the program at 16 years old. It seemed from his dropping by Red Bull, he only got stronger and this year in formula 2, where he almost didn't race because he had no backing and no money, he has excelled and proved his talent within junior series.
A lot of drivers have come and gone at Toro Rosso. One of the most notably brutal experiences belongs to Daniil Kvyat. Whom, was demoted after one bad race with Red Bull, back to Toro Rosso because Red Bull wanted Max Verstappen in the car. He then last year drove for Toro Rosso, and had a disaster of a race in Singapore, and that was it. He did come back for one race but was dropped completely from the Red Bull Program. It seems his career was ruined by how Red Bull treated him, he has many controversial moments surrounding him and with that in hand with his dropping by Red Bull. It seems he will never race in formula one again.
In the case of Kvyat, it looks like his career was ruined by Dr Marko's push for Verstappen because he never came back from being put aside for Verstappen and never came back from leaving Red Bull.
It seems Marko, has high standards and is very much expecting the best out of all his drivers, but it also seems like he expects way too much out of the young drivers wanting a seat in formula 1.
There are a lot of cases of talent gone to waste with Marko, Jean-Eric Vergne is a prime example, he was a favourite among many. Fans were sure he would get the move to Red Bull over Daniel Riccardo, but he didn't and that almost left him to rot in Toro Rosso. So Vergne, obviously upped and left, and is now the current Formula E champion. Along side him as a Formula E champion is Sebastian Buemi, the Swiss driver is also rumoured to be coming back to the paddock, however it seems unlikely. He was also got kicked out for more young talent, he was given the test driver opportunity but that was it for him in formula one also.
Carlos Sainz Jr, they shipped him off to Renault this season. Only to seem as though they would need him back at Toro Rosso in 2019. But he chose McLaren. It seems again they wanted to make room for Pierre Gasly, who now takes the call up to Red Bull. But, now they have Brendon Hartley and Gasly, but all their talent seems to have deteriorated very quickly.
Looking overall, can you say Marko has had the influence. Well of course he has, the list of former drivers they have had at Red Bull, is stupid, because they have all been left for nothing. They probably thought they had it all planned out, but Marko who is the one quick enough to get rid of them, because he is in-charge of the junior team. They are now having to recall older, axed drivers whom are all older than their current drivers in their first team. Then, they are taking peeks in to other constructors' junior teams. As their nearest driver being Dan Ticktum and he certainly will not have enough points by the end of this season, for a superlicense.
Helmut Marko has not ruined careers of young drivers, he's almost made them work harder because of his brutality. However he's definitely gone around it the wrong way. He did ruin, but all of Red Bull and himself, Kvyat's career.
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