Helmut Marko admits regret over missing Lando Norris: “We had talks that didn’t go through”. Helmut Marko reveals that Red Bull held talks with Lando Norris.

The Austrian consultant has revealed that he held talks in the past with the current championship leader about a future together.

A lifetime as a talent scout

After an excellent career as a racing driver — he won the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans and came very close to a Ferrari Formula 1 seat — which ended prematurely due to the dramatic accident at Clermont-Ferrand, Helmut Marko initially reinvented himself as a driver manager, working with Gerhard Berger and Karl Wendlinger. He later became a key talent scout for Red Bull Racing, thanks to his friendship with Dietrich Mateschitz.

A lingering regret

The crown jewels of the Red Bull Junior Program are, of course, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel — whom they snatched away from BMW right after his debut — and Max Verstappen. But several other grand prix winners also emerged from the Austrian-British system, including Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and Pierre Gasly.

However, in an interview for the Beyond the Grid podcast, Helmut Marko admitted that he still has one major regret. “We carried forward negotiations with Lando Norris, but in the end we weren’t able to get him. He would have been perfect for us, but on the other hand we can’t have everyone,” Helmut Marko said.

Putting Helmut Marko’s words into context is easy, since he had spoken about the matter a year earlier. In 2018, Red Bull approached Lando Norris — who had spent a year on the sidelines at McLaren after winning the European F3 title — to offer him a Toro Rosso seat for the following season.

McLaren, however, discovered the talks and triggered a contractual clause to promote Lando Norris to a full-time race seat. Toro Rosso ultimately settled for Alex Albon.