Red Bull's Pursuit of Youth: Dr Helmut Marko Eyes Lando Norris
Jul.12 - Dr Helmut Marko has now admitted he would like to attract Lando Norris to Red Bull.
At Silverstone, as 23-year-old Norris impressed in his improved McLaren, Marko was spotted in conversation with the British driver's agent Mark Berryman.
Marko has now told Kleine Zeitung newspaper: "He has a contract with McLaren in 2025, but he is by far the strongest of the young drivers.
"His youthful nature would also suit him best at Red Bull."
He added that "intensive talks" have been held with Norris in the past, adding: "And it's no secret that he and Max (Verstappen) are good friends."
For now, however, Red Bull Racing is locked up with Sergio Perez contracted through next year and now Daniel Ricciardo making his way back to prominence with his new AlphaTauri race seat.
It's bad news, of course, for struggling rookie Nyck de Vries who has lost his place in Formula 1 just ten races into his very first full season.
"When you axe a driver after 10 races it shows the process of making the hiring decision is wrong," former F1 driver Lucas di Grassi said.
The de Vries sacking also coincides with rumours that Marko and Red Bull are looking to slash the outfit's famed but controversial driver program at the end of the year.
Red Bull is well known for making brutal decisions - like the decision to oust Dutchman de Vries, 28, with immediate effect to revive 33-year-old Ricciardo's flagging career.
"Racing is cruel and so are the decisions," said well-known Dutch racing driver Tom Coronel.
"In my opinion, it's way too early to make a decision about a driver when you're not even halfway through the season.
"There's a lot more than Formula 1," he added, "but you deserve to have a full season to show your progress."
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Max and Lando may be good friends now, however, if Lando goes to RB that friendship will be really tested. Both will want #1 ranking, and the fireworks will be interesting to watch ~ a la Senna and Prost rivalry! We know Max will insist on being the top dog!
While I see where everyone quoted in the article comes from & I, like most or all, found the timing surprising even though I was equally prepared for an in-season change but only during the summer break rather than any sooner, the decision was ultimately justifiable, given his vast professional racing experience beforehand, which is the key factor why he got less slack than Yuki in his rookie season after zero previous pro racing & only limited lower single-seater experience outside Japan.
However, Lando isn't going anywhere in the short-term, even though contracts generally are terminatable.
RB would be better to pursue Piastri, he will be better than Norris.
But having said that I would prefer Piastri going up against Max in a separate team.
Oscar is better to stay where he is, and Mark Webber probably believes that too. Oscar is just starting his F1 career and feeling his way, so it would be a disadvantage psychologically for him to be racing against Max in a supposed identical car. The McLaren is improving in leaps and bounds, so he is really better staying where he is, along with Lando, to be involved in the further development of the car.
I believe Oscar Piastri is a champion in the making, let's not throw him in the deep end too soon!
Agree, but if RB are chasing a young driver who they think will be a world champion they would be better chasing Piastri but for Piastri I agree it would be for him to stay where he is so in a couple of more years with experience and if McLaren keep developing their car I believe he could fight with Max. But Max is such a special talent it is going to be hard to beat him.
Axed him too early in my opinion