Yuki Tsunoda, no veto from Adrian Newey
In a recent interview, Helmut Marko claimed that Yuki Tsunoda had not been given a chance at Red Bull prior to this season because “Newey would have never wanted him in the team.”
Christian Horner, team principal of the Anglo-Austrian squad, clarified the comment to Sky Sports UK: “I want to make it clear—Adrian had no role in this season’s driver decision. He wasn’t involved in that choice. Helmut was referring to the incident that happened in 2022 at Silverstone.”
Those strange absences from Helmut Marko…
As reported in recent days, some media outlets noted Helmut Marko’s unusual absence from the technical meeting in Milton Keynes where the development path for the RB21 was discussed with Max Verstappen. Always a constant presence in team matters, Marko’s behavior has appeared somewhat different lately.
In this context, Yuki Tsunoda’s account was particularly surprising. Officially confirmed on March 27, he said that up until the previous day, he had not yet heard from Marko: “Surprisingly, he hasn’t called me yet. I find that very strange. Maybe he’s been busy with other things, but I’m looking forward to seeing him. It was definitely unusual not to hear from him—he always called me when I moved from F3 to F1, but this time he didn’t. I’m sure he has nothing against me—we’ve never had any tension. When he’s at the track, I’m sure we’ll meet.”
Yuki Tsunoda’s statements, made during the Thursday press conference at the Japanese Grand Prix, were later contradicted by reality, as reported by journalist Chris Medland: “Yuki said he was looking forward to hearing from Marko. Then he stepped out of the press conference, checked his phone, and saw that Helmut had tried to call him just before the interview.” Helmut Marko was present in the Suzuka garage today to follow the free practice sessions.
Leave a Reply