Former F1 driver Jaime Alguersuari has recalled an “insane” conversation he had with Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko. Alguersuari raced for Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso between 2009 and 2011 and he has opened up about his relationship with Marko during that time.
Alguersuari has explained how Marko “expected us to perform miracles” and how he made a bizarre proposal to the Austrian after he told him he had to win a Grand Prix with Toro Rosso in 2010.
“Helmut always expects us to do something that is out of reach,” Alguersuari said on the Beyond the Grid podcast. “In 2010 there was a system, the F-duct. It was something McLaren had tested at Barcelona and from then on every team copied it, except a few teams like us.
“We couldn’t do it because we weren’t good enough for that system. That eventually led to DRS. In 2010, we were the only team scoring points without DRS. But it didn’t matter to Helmut and maybe not to Franz Tost either.
“I actually think it did, but at first glance we were just not good enough. But they expected us to perform miracles. And I remember meeting Helmut at Suzuka. It was kind of an extension of the decision on the drivers.
“And I asked him: ‘What is this for? We beat Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, with much less budget than them. We are doing great with the tyres and with the management of the strategies. What is going on here? And why?’
“And he told me, honest as he always was: ‘You have to win a race. You really need to win a race in a Toro Rosso’. I was like: okay, you know what I’m going to do? And I told him that right away on a Friday night in Suzuka.
“I said: ‘I’m going to win the race on Sunday, but I don’t care what’s going to happen and what the stewards are going to say, because I’m not going to drive the last chicane the way it’s meant to be’.
“I go straight and cut the last chicane. Then you miss 1.5 seconds. Hamilton was on pole, or whoever, although I think Vettel was on pole, and I miss 1.5 seconds. I know your car has 180 points more downforce than my car.
“There is no chance of me going 1.5 seconds [quicker] not even two-tenths. I am doing my best in every corner. So let’s make a deal. I’ll sign the paper and win on Sunday, but I’ll cut the chicane every lap. He started laughing and then I left the meeting room. It was insane.”
Marko is known as a tough taskmaster, with former Red Bull driver Vitantonio Liuzzi previously admitting that he was so scared of him that he would “start shaking” whenever he called him. “Of course, with Dr Marko, the conversations were always very short and direct,” he revealed.
“Everybody knows how he is. And I have to say that at the beginning, when I entered the motorsport world, and I had to deal with him, you see Dr Marko’s name on the phone when he’s ringing you, you start shaking.
“You never know in which mood he’s going to answer. Sometimes you open the phone and he’s shouting, and sometimes it’s an open conversation. I liked to deal with him because he was such a straight person. With him, white is white, black is black.”
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Formula 1 fans can watch every practice, qualifying and race live with Sky’s new Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in a new deal that saves £192.
As well as Sky Sports access, this includes more than 100 TV channels and free subscriptions to Netflix and Discovery+.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.