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Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko has claimed that Red Bull have bigger balls than its front of the grid competitors Mercedes and Ferrari in terms of trusting young talent to drive for either of its two teams. This comes after Red Bull made one of its typical cut throat decisions last weekend by bringing in so far untested driver Pierre Gasly to drive for Toro Rosso.
Marko does have a very good basis for this claim, having brought through several untried drivers to the main team in recent years, taking advantage of their hugely expansive young driver programme and its junior team Toro Rosso.
Since 2014 alone they have brought up three drivers to the main team without a single podium to their name in Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen and Daniil Kvyat, not to mention bringing in future four time world champion Sebastian Vettel in 2009. Bringing in a driver who hasn't won races before is something Ferrari havent done on a permanent basis since they brought in Felipe Massa in 2006, and Mercedes were only forced to do in bringing in Valtteri Bottas last year.
Mercedes and Ferrari both currently have no shortage of talent in their young driver pool, with Esteban Ocon, Pascal Wehrlein, Antonio Giovinazzi and Charles Leclerc just some of the names they currently boast, but it has been a struggle getting them into competitive F1 machinery with Ocon the only one of those names looking like having a car capable of scoring regular points next season, unless Sauber ( who all three of the other names are competing for a seat at) see a sudden upturn in performance.
Marko said this on the subject of promoting young drivers after the promotion of Gasly: "Red Bull, in complete contrast to Ferrari and Mercedes, have balls, and we put young drivers in the car. So let's see. We have our ideas, and as soon as everything is finalised we will let you know."
Sam Gale
Grand Prix of Belgium
C. Sainz jr
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Replies (7)
Login to replyLightIsRight
Posts: 113
On the topic of Red bulls big balls, they must be pretty huge since you also going the Honda route! Or does the rookie driver selection only count as a single ball and the Honda engine selection the other? In that case your Honda ball is Bloody HUGE in comparison.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
It's easy to switch drivers around when you effectively own two teams... Which to this day I don't understand. Red Bull loves to post themselves in the back. They could also talk about the big balls it took to criticize the hell out of Renault ND subsequently getting an inferior PU. I expect that in 2018 McLaren will get preferential treatment in practice.
juju_hound
Posts: 180
A lot of pain in the knees in Red Bull team because of big balls banging.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
The driver switch didn't require big balls, it required a complete lack of respect for one of their drivers. There's a difference.
I would also argue that the move to Honda didn't require balls - It's a calculated risk, that will only really impact the B-team if it goes wrong.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Agreed, and its not really a risk that'll damage them either. If they do end up dead last, whatever. They've scored enough points this year to still get cash, and they get cash from Honda.
mbmwe36
Posts: 533
It's certainly worth the gamble. If Honda gets it right, RBR can follow suit next year, and for all intents and purposes be a works team.
If it doesn't, it's perhaps the difference between finishing 7-8 or 9-10th in the championship.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Well, its not like RB is exactly flooding TR with resources anyway, look at how they've fallen back from the midseason and up until now. They really should've been able to grab points in Malaysia.