Marko blasts Mercedes ‘difference’ amidst Antonelli’s F1 struggles

Red Bull may have a reputation for being brutal when it comes to its young drivers, but Helmut Marko says at least the team doesn’t throw its drivers in the deep end like Mercedes has done with Kimi Antonelli.

And especially not after talking them up as the next big thing in Formula 1.

Helmut Marko defends Red Bull amidst Kimi Antonelli’s struggles

Antonelli entered Formula 1 this season, billed as a once-in-a-generation talent and a teenage protege.

Scoring points in five of his first six race weekends, the Italian seemed to be living up to the billing, only for his head to drop as he recorded a run of retirements interrupted by a debut podium at the Canadian Grand Prix.

Such was the pressure of his situation that, out in Q1 at the Belgian Grand Prix, an emotional Antonelli faced the media appearing to be on the verge of tears.

“Are you okay?” asked the concerned journalist.

Antonelli: “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Yeah?”

Antonelli just nodded.

The 18-year-old bounced back to record a top-ten finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix and went into the summer break on the back of a confidence-boosting race as he raced from 16th on the grid to 10th at the chequered flag.

Interviewed by F1 Insider, it was put to Marko that had Antonelli been a member of the Red Bull junior programme, he would’ve been dropped when his results dipped.

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Marko hit back at that.

“The difference,” replied the Red Bull motorsport advisor, “our juniors first drive for the Racing Bulls and aren’t immediately exposed to the pressure of F1. We also don’t create hype around a young driver before they’re in an F1 car.”

The Austrian, though, did concede that Red Bull is in a position where it has a junior team to blood the next generation of Red Bull drivers.

Asked for his take on Antonelli, Marko said it was fortunate for Red Bull that Mercedes isn’t in a position to offer Antonelli a pressure-free environment at a junior team.

“I mean, they [Mercedes] don’t have a junior team,” he said. “Sure, I don’t want to comment on how things work with other teams.

“Antonelli is certainly a very fast driver, but also very young, and strangely enough, we spoke briefly at the hotel in Spa, and he said that he doesn’t have confidence in the car and as soon as he pushes, he loses control.

“So, it’s more a mental thing, and apparently the car is also very critical in the working window, similar to ours, and when it works, then it’s much more toxic.”

“Kimi just needs to be given time to recover, just as [Liam] Lawson rediscovered his form with Racing Bulls. But thankfully, Mercedes doesn’t have the luxury of a second team.”

Antonelli has scored 64 points so far this season to sit P7 in the Drivers’ Championship where he is 106 points behind his team-mate George Russell. The Briton, who is fourth on the log, is in a battle with Max Verstappen to join the McLaren team-mates on the F1 2025 podium.

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