These days, Helmut Marko is a Red Bull man through and through. Brought in by his fellow Austrian and good friend Dietrich Mateschitz, the Austrian former racer has served as a key adviser to the team for two decades, though he might have had an entirely different allegiance had he completed a shock Ferrari switch.
It was during his own racing days that he caught the attention of the Scuderia after making his mark in Formula 1. After making his F1 debut in 1971, he established himself as a regular on the grid driving for British Racing Motors and, though he never scored a World Championship point, managed to capture the attention of Ferrari another way.
Speaking on F1’s Beyond The Grid podcast, Marko revealed that he was in advanced talks to race for the Scuderia. He said: “I drove a Ferrari sports car. I was on pole and finished second and I got an offer for F1… From Ferrari. It was already [signed].”
Crucially, it was not an actual contract that he had signed. Marko added: “It was a letter of intent, and I should have come to Maranello because in the end, the old man [Enzo Ferrari], has to be always involved and personally you have to be there and show your[self to the] audience.”
Fate denied him the chance to ever race for Ferrari in Formula 1. Marko was 29 years old when he suffered serious injuries at the 1972 French Grand Prix, held at the Clermont-Ferrand circuit, blinded in his left eye by a piece of rock which had pierced his visor, having been thrown up into the air by a car ahead.
But he would one day see Ferrari’s fabled Maranello base. Marko explained: “I was supposed, after Clermont, to come to Maranello, but I went later on with Niki Lauda. I was helping him a little bit in these negotiations and there I went down and I saw [Enzo Ferrari] for the first time personally.”
Marko never got to experience success on track in F1, but has contributed to plenty of it in his capacity at Red Bull. In particular, his close relationship with Max Verstappen is vital to the team and the Dutchman has himself referred to Marko as “a second father” in the past.
Commenting on that relationship, the Austrian said earlier this year: “Whether I am his second father? Haha, you won’t hear me say that. Look, I don’t know how long I have been working in this sport. What I do know is the first time I had a serious conversation with Max. He was 13 at the time. Normally in such a conversation I talk to a young driver for 10 to 15 minutes. With Max, it was more than an hour.”