Alguersuari: Marko comments “absolutely not acceptable”

F1 Fanatic round-up

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Helmut Marko, Jaime Alguersuari, Bahrain, 2010

In the round-up: Jaime Alguersuari responds to Helmut Marko’s claim he wasn’t good enough to stay with Red Bull.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Helmut’s comments are ‘absolutely not acceptable’, fumes Alguersuari (Daily Mail)

“I respect the situation that they don’t want my work anymore, but what they’ve said is absolutely not acceptable. They said ‘we are good drivers, but we are not winners’. It doesn’t make sense if you give me a car that is not capable to be in the top ten.”

Montezemolo and the gap recorded by the Ferrari “I must do something about this situation very quickly” (La Gazzetta dello Sport)

“I hope that it is not true that we are going to suffer at the beginning, even though Alonso is always very objective. I would like to understand why and above all understand quickly, very quickly, what needs to be done.”

F1 Fanatic via Twitter

“Marussia say the MR01 has passed the last of the FIA crash tests and is ready to race.”

Bernie: Teams back Bahrain GP (Sky)

“It’s difficult to know exactly about the politics in their country or any of that part of the world now, as we can see. But the teams are all committed to be there, and will be there, and want to be there and like to be in Bahrain.”

Boullier: Lotus can close in on leaders (Autosport)

“What is very encouraging is that even if we believe strongly that they are ahead of us, then the gap last year to this year has been reduced so it shows we can catch up.”

How motor racing’s Frank Williams changed the face of Western sport (The Guardian)

“If Frank Williams – now Sir Frank – had never done anything else, he might be credited with the initiative that unplugged the geyser of Middle Eastern oil money which has transformed the world of international sport.”

Nicolas Hamilton: My bond with Dad suffered because of Lewis’s career. But he’s dedicated to me now (The Sun)

“Here, for the first time, the 19-year-old talks about the pain of missing out on his father’s attention while living in the shadow of Lewis’s brilliant rise up the racing ladder.”

Nicolas Hamilton via Twitter

“Don’t believe what you read in The Sun about my dad today, everything has been twisted.”

Formula 1’s madman and design genius (MotorSport)

“Colani proclaimed that his organic approach would render all other F1 cars antiquated overnight. Er… his overheated and lacked downforce, and would have to be gradually de-Colanised.”

Comment of the day

The new season is drawing ever closer but not everyone will be watching:

I would just like to express my sadness that I won’t be watching qualifying at Melbourne this year due to not being able to justify getting Sky with my family costs and also trees (!) preventing me getting RTL using a dish. I guess we had it good for quite a long time here in the UK and now the reality of the free market has hit fanatics such as myself.

You may say I’m not a fanatic because I don’t pay, but when you have children and a mortgage and hanging on financially, those things come first. So be it.

I’m still looking forward to James Allen on Radio 5 so hopefully I can use my imagination to picture the action. I still have F1 Fanatic Live too of course.
John H

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On this day in F1

Attempt to salvage something of the Prost team ran into difficulty ten years ago today. The FIA revealed that the business which had bought the Prost cars would not be able to enter the forthcoming season as entries were already closed.

In the end nothing came of the efforts to keep the outfit going and the team dropped out of Formula 1 entirely. It had previously existed as Ligier, who originally entered F1 in 1976.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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127 comments on “Alguersuari: Marko comments “absolutely not acceptable””

  1. I think Alguersuari has a point. Marko isn’t the nicest person from the comments I’ve seen him make. I bet it was more likely an excuse to bring in their preferred young talent.

    1. Alguersuari was way better than Buemi, still Buemi is the reserve driver. I guess Marko just didn’t like the way Jaime held Vettel up that time…

      1. Is there anyone who likes Marko? I mean really, he is doing what he has to do, but as a person? He could certainly go about things differently.

        1. Agreed. Nothing against either of them personally, but I kind of hope both the new drivers fail miserably this year as a little Karma for Marko.

          1. what an awful attitude to go through life with!

      2. @carlitox What makes you say that? I think Sebastien was a much more solid driver and made not half of the mistakes of his team-mate. Plus he always seemed to outperform him too. I’ve never understood why Jaime is rated so highly when he can barely beat his team-mate that seems to suffer a car failure in every other race – yet still come out on top at the end of the year.

        As for Marko, I try not to think about him or I just get annoyed. But it’s better to just laugh! :P

        1. All the talk that Buemi and Alguersuari from Marko, saying that they are not winners. How about run them against Vettel in the RB8 in a mock up race test, and see how they go. I bet they would keep him honest.

          1. @ivz – He was asking why Alguersuari is seen as so much better than Buemi who outscored him in 2009 and 2010.

            For the record, based on what we’ve seen of them, I do not believe Buemi or Alguersuari would keep either Red Bull driver honest.

          2. @David-A – I honestly think its impossible to tell since we have no known quantity in the car they drove.

            For all we know they could be the best drivers on the grid in a dog of a car. Unlikely (and I know that Helmut Marko will have more data than us), but you know what I mean.

    2. Flying Lobster 27
      7th March 2012, 9:22

      So Jaime won’t be doing the pit interviews for Radio 5… :D

    3. This Helmut Markko guy seems to be a truly villainous person. That’s why I just don’t like this Red Bull outfit and their F1 efforts. It’s tainted by politics and lack of transparency.

      1. That’s why I just don’t like this Red Bull outfit and their F1 efforts. It’s tainted by politics and lack of transparency.

        Yes, it really is a shame, what with the rest of the teams being so apolitical and such models of transparency.

    4. OK im kinda on the fence with all this Marko-Alguersari-Buemi but this is my take on things

      1. I think it was wrong for for them to tell Buemi & Jaime last year that whoever came on top at seasons end would get to keep his seat and be on waiting on the wings for Webber to vacate his – to then sack both of them after fighting tooth and nail for it

      2. I think Jaime and Buemi are decent drivers & they did deserve to keep their seats…Helmut & Franz obviously see something i dont & are in a better posi to judge…we’ll see how that works for them. So they dump their drivers, there’s no need to make statements defaming them telling the whole world they’re not winners to justify it. Its like they didnt want anyone else to hire them…(so why not buy say HRT as 3rd RB team and call them Hispania Rojo Toro or something and keep them on? I dunno…)

      3. Good that Buemi got the life line as RB test driver and Jaime didnt….Jaime just dosent know how to keep his mouth shut (I believe his attitude bought him the guillotine)

      1. For us fans though, it’s refreshing to have a driver who speaks his heart. Besides, I’m personally happy when someone lashes out at Markko, Horner and all that top brass of this drink company squad, except Newey.

        They ruined Webber and made him the perfect No.2, though much of it is Webber’s own fault. Horner preaches about team orders and thinigs like that, but it’s his employers who carry out all the worst behind-the-scenes dramas.

        1. Yes is good to speak your hearth out… but it is always a problem when you are trying to get a job in the PR world of racing.

          I don´t think thta Alguersuari is any good, but I don´t agree with Marko´s comment, he should have stat quiet.

          Beside how Webber has ebing ruined, he is the same person as it was before…

    5. remember when lewis hamilton had a bad car at the start of 2009? he did no better then buemi and algesuari, so helmut marko should shut his gob. its a personal thing from that race where algesuari appeared to block vettel, you could see how angry marko was afterwards. now he is using his power to ruin a young mans career, its pure hatred from the man.

      1. He drove that car to a third place in the first race even if the controversy followed took the place away from him.
        Those two had many more races and didn’t even scored a top six.

        1. Indeed, and Hamilton got a 4th at Bahrain.

    6. I agree with you ,. I hope he doesn’t axe Daniel Ricciardo and Jean Eric-Vergne in the same way after a so “called unsuccessful season”. On the other hand maybe they feel they did not give 100%..

  2. The Sun? Twist things? OH. MY. GAWD!!!

    anyway, I’m also disappointed with the Frank Williams article, I like what he’s going for as an admirer of Frank, about the article jumps around, is hard to follow, and is like a collection of short stories crammed into one book. With nothing to join them.

    1. The Colani article however is great! :D

    2. Tom Haxley (@)
      7th March 2012, 6:56

      I’m quite disappointed Keith linked to that article to be honest, even after he retweeted one of the Hamiltons tweets saying it was untrue.

      Poor form from F1F

      1. I thought there were some interesting bits in it – mainly about relationship between the brothers (Dad stuff likely being exaggerated), and Nicolas himself. I read it after that tweet when @keithcollantine linked to it on twitter.

        So I think taken together, those two links provide something of interest, and am glad Keith linked them here as he did on twitter.

      2. @welshtom Putting links to both the Sun article and Nicolas Hamilton’s objection to it is the reasonable thing to do as it gives people the available information and allows them to make up their own mind about who’s in the right.

        1. And also because posting Nicolas Hamilton’s objection without any context to it doesn’t make any sense. Because all you would get is this:

          “Don’t believe what you read in The Sun about my dad today, everything has been twisted.”

          This piques my curiosity as to what The Sun have said now, but just posting the rebuttal means that the only way I will find out is by visiting The Sun‘s website. And since doing so is really only giving The Sun what they want – attention – I’m not going to go looking for the article, and my curiosity will not be sated.

          1. I think it’s not only The Sun that wants the attention. It’s a cheap media stunt. A succesful driver’s bro wants to get some spotlight too – so he calls the newspaper, they forge an ‘outrageous’ interview and the next day he says the article is twitsted, that he was misinterpreted etc. Meanwhile the paper sells, Nic’s image sells – both parties are happy.

          2. That’s not how it works. The Sun just makes things up. Regularly. That might sound like libel or slander, but in the UK, the media are protected by laws that limit the amount that can be paid in damages to a plantiff to one hundred thousand pounds. All The Sun‘s lawyers have to do is drag things out long enough that Hamilton’s legal expenses would out-weigh any payout, and it’s a lost cause to take legal action against them. There is no collaboration between The Sun and Hamilton because that would involve The Sun acting in the interests of someone other than themselves, something that all tabloids are incapable of doing.

        2. +1. The tweet without the article would be pointless.

          1. Nic – if they lied sue them – your brother is worth millions so cash shouldn’t be a problem.

            Otherwise just don’t deal with them in any way, shape or form.

            I’m always amazed that folk deal with know evil entities but are somehow surprised when bad things happen.

  3. I’ll be listening on the radio too, John. Grateful for the extended highlights and of course looking forward to the lives races too. Not my first choice, but definitely a glass-more-than-half-full situation. :-)

    1. Alternatively, there are some websites airing “paid” channels for free. You should bear in mind that many times quality is not there unlike a reasonable amount of malware, but I guess your love for F1 justifies taking the risk.

  4. Doesn’t everyone simply despise this Helmut Marko fellow? ok, that’s a strong word, but gosh he’s simply the villain of the story every time and he seems not to be bothered by it at all. Besides the fact that nobody really knows the depth of his influences within the Red Bull group or the reason why he’s in such a position.

    1. I think Marko is a complete douche. His behavior on the Vettel/Webber, Vettel/Alguersuari incidents was ludicrous.

      1. He is someone that Red Bull could do without to be honest. Its one of the reasons why I don’t like them as a team. Dietrich Mateschitz seems like a decent person, can’t say the same for Marko.

      2. I’m just surprised douche gets past the filter

        1. It means “shower” in French, (this comment is just for educationnal purposes)

  5. Why don’t F1 Fanatics who have Sky and who wouldn’t mind having some other fanatics over to watch post up some details or something?

    I’m in Australia, so I can’t help. But I used to live in the UK and wouldn’t have minded having a few people over to watch F1 races with.

    1. I’m happy for people to come watch it on my computer with me:
      http://bbsimg.ngfiles.com/1/8757000/ngbbs44594dd56e302.jpg
      but on a serious note, good idea.

    2. or relay it on the website via high defination webcam but i guess that would not be legal lol

      1. Or you could stream it from the RTL website or app, mute the commantry and have the radio in the background.

        1. rtl is?

          1. German tv channel.

        2. I will defintely give it a go. I’m not sure Rtl will be allowed to stream their broadcast globally when the F1 is in though, unless you mean a Justin tv stream or something.

    3. I will most definitely have folks round at some point.

      1. I think they can stream it because on line streaming is not great quality and you can’t understand half of what they are saying anyway but the android app definitely works.

  6. Is Ferrari really going to be that slow? could they be behind Mercedes and even Lotus? This is really crazy, they have been working on this car for so long now, how can top engineers and designers that get paid millions get it so wrong?

    1. I think the answer to your question is that Ferrari is a company whose strength is in building engines, chassis and suspensions, but has no background in aerodynamics to call on, without a winning aerodynamicist on the team it is not possible to be competitive due to the restrictive regulations stifling developments in virtually all areas other than aerodynamics.

      1. Ferrari has rarely been top dog in the engine race…. -.-

        virtually all areas other than aerodynamics.

        What would you suggest? (Keeping speeds down and spending to realistic levels.)

        1. i would suggest increasing speeds as well as spending.

        2. In order to have the best car you need the best aerodynamicist and a huge budget for computational fluid dynamics, building and testing then re-building aero-parts in the wind tunnel . Since the objective is of no use outside F1 there are very few Aerodynamicists to recruit, in the history of F1 a handful of designers have been dominant in their era, Adrian Newey is the current #1 and he is not at Ferrari.

    2. I am hoping they just need to unlock the settings for the new car, specially the new front suspension.

      As they say the more the merrier. The more cars competing the better IMO.

  7. Happy Birthday to @Fahadalam007 hope you are still here to enjoy the season which will be something to savour.

  8. Why would anyone succumb to an interview with The Sun anyway? The paper only sells because of Page 3.

    1. @Jay what’s on Page 3? Girls? (I’m really guessing here…!)

      1. @fer-no65 Naked girls.

        1. Top half naked girls..!

      2. It’s not only the Sun, though. Whenever I’m in the UK I get the distinct feeling I should rather listen to a drunk hobo talking conspiracies, than believing what those lunatics write down.

  9. I’m with Alguersuari. I said the same thing a couple of weeks ago.

    Okay, you don’t want them, but can’t you just stup repiting those painful words? not only Marko… Tost too… and some others within the Red Bull universe.

    They tried quite hard to destroy their reputation…

  10. It seems as though nobody has ever had anything nice to say about Marko after (and sometimes during) their professional relationship. The guy must be a major PITA.

  11. It’s kinda nice to see Alguersuari speak out! Once he leaves the team, he can bag them all he wants!

    1. I think it’s unwise. He gains nothing from it.
      I know Marko also doesn’t gain, but I think he resonded to the unavoidable question why he sacked them.

      1. To be honest, he was very civilized and mature all along, only for Marko and Tost to add to their pooring bile on both Alguersuari and Buemi several times.

        By now I find it pretty reasonable to state what he thinks of it, and what he says is still quite factual.
        I cannot think of any good reason not to have told either, or both, that they should not count on being retained a few months earlier, giving them a realistic chance of getting another drive.

  12. Interesting suggestion from Rantin’ Joe Saward: Bernie has finally run out of patience with Valencia, and is looking to find someone else to replace the event. It seems that the only reason why they’re still on the calendar for now is that Bernie doesn’t want to take them off without finding someone to fill in the gap.

    1. I would love for it to go to Portimao! Sadly the only places I think it will end up is either Paul Ricard, Jerez or the other Valencia track, but far more likely that it is just scrapped from the calendar altogether without a replacement

      1. It probably won’t go to Portimao. Portimao is in Portugal, and Portugal is one of the PIIGS – the five European nations whose economies are so dire that one false step could send the entire continent into financial oblivion. Spending money on a Grand Prix would just be irresponsible, and the kind of thing that could send their already-teetering economy over the edge. That said, the race is scheduled to take place on June 24, and that date will be very difficult to change (unless it gets moved back to August, with the one-month summer vacation taking place in June). I think the only way Bernie is going to get a replacement event is if he offers a massive discount to any venue willing to take up the reins for a one-off race. Even then, it may still be too expensive for Portimao, and they would face stiff competition from the likes of France, Imola and the Red Bull Ring.

        If it’s true, then I think it’s far more likely that Bernie will simply stick with Valencia for 2012, and then send them into oblivion for 2013.

        1. That said, the race is scheduled to take place on June 24, and that date will be very difficult to change (unless it gets moved back to August, with the one-month summer vacation taking place in June).

          I don’t see that happening, purely because kids are still in school in June.

          I think the most likely outcome is shifting all the races to a bit earlier in the year and then slotting Russia into the gap, perhaps after Hungary. Or something along those lines.

          1. The Russian Grand Prix won’t happen until 2014. The facilities for the Sochi circuit are being built alongside the Olympic Park, but the surface won’t be laid until after the 2014 games.

            The only real alternative would be to go to the Moscow Raceway, but I don’t know if the circuit will be ready in time – it will open in “mid-2012”.

          2. Oh yes, I didn’t see that 2013 might be when the slot comes up. In that case you’d have to think New Jersey will get priority.

          3. I read in yesterday’s Bangkok Post, that there moves about to take place to have an F1 here in Thailand.

        2. PM, Spain is the “S” in PIIGS and they have two GPs. Italy is one of them too. And you wouldnt say that spending money on Monza is irresponsible would you? Using this logic, Bernie should pull out of Europe altogether.

          Italy is the second largest economy in the Eurozone and it belongs to this group you mention. But that just shows one thing. All European countries are in the same boat. Wherever you place the GP, the same people will end up paying for it at the end.

          1. I’m aware of that. One Grand Prix appears to be manageable for each of the PIIGS right now. You are correct in saying that Spain has two races, but Valencia is in Spain, and that’s the race that is (apparently) currently under the axe.

            And the difference between Spain and Italy when compared to Portugal is that Spain has Alonso and Italy has Ferrari – both countries have massive followings that Portugal does not. The Italian and Spanish Grands Prix work because of the sport’s popularity.

            As for Bernie pulling out of Europe entirely, he may just have to. The PIIGS might not be teetering on the edge of financial ruin at the moment, but one false step could send them hurtling over the edge – and they could easily drag the rest of the continent with them. If that happens, no-one in Europe will be able to afford a Grand Prix.

          2. Quite right Vranik, lets move the whole circus to a vibrant egalitarian democracy, somewhere like, oh say, hmmm, I know, Australia.

        3. @PrisonerMonkeys

          The Italian and Spanish Grands Prix work because of the sport’s popularity.

          It does sort of make Imola an attractive proposition, from my perspective anyway. You also said:

          Even then, it may still be too expensive for Portimao, and they would face stiff competition from the likes of France, Imola and the Red Bull Ring.

          If France wants the French Grand Prix to return, the ouster of Valencia would be the perfect opportunity for them, wouldn’t you think so?

        4. fullthrottle
          8th March 2012, 18:27

          Report user does nothing. Shame on you Keith, not the first time PM waves his xenophobia. Or your hipocrisy allow you people to call pigs other nations just like that? It seem’s none among your users has a problem with it, so I guess this is no place for pigs. Leaving for good.

          1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PIGS_(economics)

            PIGS (also PIIGS[1]) is a pejorative acronym used to refer to the economies of Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. Since 2008, the term has included Ireland, either in place of Italy or with an additional I.

    2. I’d not mind to watch the drivers race on foot round Valencia rather than watching the actual Grand Prix.

      It’d certainly be much more exciting!

      1. Webber would win that :) lol

      2. haha you remind me of Adrian Sutil’s comical running style.

    3. There were suggestions (or actual plans) to alternate the Belgian and French Grand Prix. Why not chuck Valencia out and keep both French and Belgian. I understand that Spa is too costly for the organizers though. In any case Valenica being replaced by another ‘new’ track would not help.

      1. Why not chuck Valencia out and keep both French and Belgian.

        Because New Jersey is coming in 2013. If Valencia goes, New Jersey will take its place.

        1. So it’s official….. US is the new Spain. Is Alonso an american? Surely there is a town called Santander in the US…. no? Pity, lets found one!

          I cannot understand how will US can support 2 grand prixs. Who are the major sponsors that organizers have? I am crossing my fingers because the Americans are the greatest petrolheads in the world!!!!

    4. Well, Bernie surely needs to make place for New Jersey and Sochi. So I think Valencia will have to go, together with Spa or Hungaroring. Or Melbourne, unfortunately. Unless one of the Asian circuits will resign because of lack of interest in F1. But I doubt it.

      And one other thing:

      one false step could send the entire continent into financial oblivion

      You’re exaggerating there. A lot. Again. It’s getting boring ;)

  13. I don’t want to risk bringing up the argument we had last year, but I find it disgusting that F1 is going to Bahrain. I’d love to see a race there, but not when I know the people responsible for bringing the race to their country are also associated with the horrid things that are happening over there. I agree – F1 shouldn’t be a political tool – but I don’t agree with a country spending millions on having an F1 race while it tortures its citizens.

    Yes, the protesters may (or may not) be in the wrong, but torture and violent crackdowns are not the appropriate means of dealing with misbehaviour (if that’s what it is) in this era. And I can’t help but fear for the safety of all involved with the Grand Prix if protesters choose to target the event. It’s the element of uncertainty that worries me coupled with the fact nothing seems to have changed in the past 12 months yet no-one’s talking about it this year…

    1. Bernie did the same thing with the Hungarian GP. He wanted a GP in the USSR but settled for Hungary, to tap the market behind the iron curtain. Despite torture, oppression and several countries being occupied at the time (including mine) by the red army, Bernie just saw a market to exploit. So in that sense you could say it is morally despicable.

      But on the other hand, this was the first GP that I saw as a kid and i know most of the people in the eastern bloc were happy that they had a GP in their country (even though the regimes in which they lived were terrible). I wonder if the average Bahraini, having experienced the oppression of the royal family first hand, would feel the same way as the people living in communist Europe felt back in the eighties.

      I say this just to show that the issue is a little bit more complicated than just simply saying that the GP shouldn’t happen. I say let the people of Bahrain decide (and by that i mean all of them, not just those who have the right to vote – which is just a small fraction)

    2. Maybe we should find relieve in the thought that many in the UK will be “boycotting” this race because of not having Sky!

      Fully agree with you that it’s not a good idea to go racing in Bahrain currently.

  14. “What is very encouraging is that even if we believe strongly that they are ahead of us, then the gap last year to this year has been reduced so it shows we can catch up.”

    Eh, I’m not buying into this. It feels like another talk-up-Lotus-and-Raikkonen story to me. I’ll reserve judgement on Lotus’ preparedness when they start getting results and start getting them consistently.

    1. Possibly, but you quoted a quote…. quotes are hard to misconstrue.

      Mr. Boullier obviously thinks they can catch up… I’d remind you they have similar articles representing what other teams are saying as well.

  15. I think Marko shoots him self in the foot every time he opens his mouth, saying “they are good drivers, but they were not winners” just make the red bull driver program look like a faliure. O.K. so Vettel has turned out to be a winner, but that’s it, so 1 out of 5 or 6 drivers that Red Bull has put into F1, low hit rate if you ask me.

    The Red Bull driver program states that intends to help talented drivers into the top levels of motor sports, yet Marko himself admits that they (Jaime and Buemi) did not have enough talent, so why were they in the program in the first place?

    So on his own words Marko is failing at his own job.

    1. The Red Bull driver program states that intends to help talented drivers into the top levels of motor sports, yet Marko himself admits that they (Jaime and Buemi) did not have enough talent, so why were they in the program in the first place?

      Because Red Bull thought they had the potential to win. However, after two and a half and three years in the sport, they failed to impress the team enough to retain their seats, much less step up to Red Bull.

      1. Surely it is not their fault that their car was not competitive enough. The best of them have been found wanting in cars that either do not suit their style or are just too hard to drive. Case in point is the Ferrari from a couple of years back. I don’t see anyone else harping on about how their driver was no good. Vettel won in a TR that was essentially similar t the RB car. Both Buemi and Jaime did not have such a luxury.

        1. Exactly. If you don’t provide a car capable of winning, then the chances are that the drivers will not win. In this day and age, it’s very implausible that a ‘freak’ result will occur.

          Look at Kubica, many see him to be a great talent (I’m not so sure myself), but he only has one win on his belt, and that was arguably only because Hamilton crashed into the back of Raikkonen.

          Take Jenson Button as well, he only had one win pre-2009, because he never really had the car to challenge Ferrari, McLaren or Renault in the respective years, bar one or two years, but the car was still not that quick in comparison. Yet, here we are now, and he has 12 wins.

          Maybe Marko does know what he’s talking about, but he hasn’t really provided any solid evidence that proves that these drivers aren’t capable of winning Grand Prix’, and I for one find his attitude despicable.

          1. @mahavirshah , @jamiefranklinf1

            I always assumed that Marko didn’t literally demand a win from Buemi and Alguersuari. Kubica and Vettel weren’t seen as great talents exclusively because they won a race, but because they regularly produced results well above average for the cars they were driving.

            Marko has handled the situation poorly and I agree that is isn’t that likeable. Buemi and Alguersuari could win races in the right car. However, they haven’t shown much to stand out from the crowd like most of the highly rated drivers did when they weren’t in front running cars (including Button, who punched above his weight in in 2004-06).

          2. I can kind of see where Marko is coming from. Even though Jenson had one win there were moments of brilliance. After the German GP he scored more points than Alosno in 2006. You knew the capability was there. Look at how he trounced Jaques who was a world champion. You knew Alonso was special when he was at Minardi and you knew Vettel was special when he was at Torro Rosso. These two strike me as competent but not ‘special.’ Neither one seems to be the complete package and if that is what you are searching for then there is no point keeping them around. Its very harsh but I don’t think its unfair.

        2. I am positive the team can work out how well a driver is performing relative to the cars performance. I am sure RBR would rather those two were the next Vettel but they weren’t. Think about it, it is a huge investment RedBull made in those drivers and it didn’t pay off. As wealthy as RedBull are they cannot afford to pour money down the drain on whims, everything will be calculated and balanced before decisions like writing off two huge investments in drivers like JA & SB.

        3. Surely it is not their fault that their car was not competitive enough.

          They obviously weren’t expected to win. They were simply expected to do more than they actually did.

          If you look at all of the front-runners, the drivers who are considered to be the best – Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton, and so on – have one trait in common: the ability to drive a car beyond its limits. That is what Red Bull are looking for in their young drivers, because that is what Red Bull needs. Neither Buemi nor Alguersuari demonstrated that ability, so why should Toro Rosso keep the around if they are obviously not what the team is looking for? And why should they do it when Ricciardo and Vergne are considered to have that potential?

          A team is obligated to take the two best drivers available to it at any given time. If Toro Rosso feel that the drivers they run in one year are not the best drivers for them in the following year, why should they be obligated to field two drivers who they feel are not the best fit for the team? Formula 1 might be cruel, but that is the nature of the beast – you either perform, or you lose your seat. Buemi and Alguersuari didn’t perform, and so they lost their seats.

          The real question here is why Toro Rosso didn’t get rid of them – particuarly Buemi – sooner.

          1. I agree that a team is not obligated to run a driver. If that was the case Barrichello would still be at Williams. The questions are as you said that if they were not good why run them for so long and to when do you decide that Marko is calling it as he sees it and when is he doing it out of say spite.

          2. Because they ere given a fair chance.

          3. The question is not why they were let go, it is why it was done so badly.

    2. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the way Helmut Marko handled this and I really have nothing good to say about him, but when it comes to their driver development program… let’s be serious. Low hit rate? That’s a really terrible argument. Did you expect every driver from the program to be equally talented? Did you expect every one of them to become a world champion? Their program gave them a double world champion and that’s a huge success.

    3. low hit rate? more people have walked on the moon, than there are double world champions. what would the red bull young drivers program need to do for you to label it as a success?

      There are not enough drivers championships to cover all the participants in all the young driver’s programs. You cant have a better hit rate than red Bull have had.

      1. ah, i see that MaroonJack beat me to it. :-)

      2. You cant have a better hit rate than red Bull have had.

        Red Bull’s is very good, but I’d suggest McLaren’s is better: One rookie in the past dozen years, one world champion!

        1. HaHa! 100% success ratio. :-)

          Anyway Marco was basically right. They truly never seemed to have that something special but his behavior is still unacceptable because is not what he did but how he did it.
          First he waited the last possible moment to tell them, leaving them with very little choices and second after he fired them he goes around talking them down as much as possible. Is like the guy not only wants them to not be Red Bull drivers but doesn’t want them to get another job in F1 again. Quite a disgusting attitude.

  16. Oh god I’m really not looking forward to James Allen on radio 5, he may well be the thing that separates me from any live coverage this year.

    1. I’m fully intending to forego any live coverage of the non-BBC races this year – hearing the action without being able to see it just isn’t the same, and it tends to overshadow the delayed highlights later on.

      In fact, I’ve already told my wife that I’m imposing a full media blackout on non-BBC race days – no radio or television news that might give away the result and I expect her to shield me from news websites which might display the result on their homepages. Also, no Sunday morning Skype calls from her Sky-equipped parents just in case her father says “good race, wasn’t it?”

      I have said, however, she can inform me of any Likely Lads “match rained off”-type scenarios, just to put me out of my misery.

  17. Marko isn’t the boss and therefore has people to keep happy, people who pay his wages.

    He’s only managed to turn Vettel into a champion thus far and I think his move to ditch Buemi and Alguersuari was probably motivated by pressure he was feeling from above.

    I’d love to see both Buemi and Alguersuari get another shot. Whether they’re worth it is another thing but it’s just too depressing to think their careers are already over.

    1. Yeah, they are still pretty young and were solid, if unspectacular. Hulkenberg got another shot, so I’m sure that sometime they’ll get one as well.

      1. I’d like to think so @david-a Arguably it’s gonna be harder for Alguersuari to land a seat as he’s longer associated with any F1 team unlike Buemi, plus I don’t think he has a drive anywhere this year, for anything.

  18. I’m ready to pay subscription and still see some ads on the site. And no, I’m not some rich snob who doesn’t know where to put his money.

    Look at Autosport. It’s a serious, established magazine but there are still some ads on its website. And you get only the news part for free, you need to pay for analysis, detailed results, statistics etc. – basically, all the things that you get for free on F1F. Yes, Autosport employ a bunch of reporters who go to all races and have good contacts, which is their strength. Then again, they don’t have COTD, caption competitions, quizzes, contests etc. so, in my view, Autosport (including the part you have to subscribe to!) and F1F are pretty equal in terms of quality.

    The bottom line is that we shouldn’t expect that we’ll always get high quality F1 stuff for free and without cooperating with the supporters, that is, having to look at ads. It might have been the case for some time but that model just ain’t sustainable.

  19. Helmut is still infatuated by Vettel’s two world championships so of course he’ll say that Buemi and Alguersuari aren’t winners. I don’t agree with him, so I’ll say well done Jaime for standing up to him.

    At the COTD – Totally agree with you John H. If you can’t afford it, then you can’t afford it, but it doesn’t make you any less of an F1Fanatic.

    I’m quite lucky that my brother has his own place now, bought a Virgin Box and the Sky F1 channel so I have somewhere to watch live races. If it wasn’t for that, I don’t know what I would’ve done.

  20. To be honest, I think Alguersuari needs to move on a little bit. Yes, he was dumped in a very cruel way. Yes, the best that can be said about Helmut Marko’s comments on his performances is that they were blunt. But it’s nothing that we didn’t already know, and complaining about it isn’t going to change anything. We’re ten days out from the new season – Toro Rosso aren’t suddenly going to see the error of their ways and reinstate him. Marko isn’t suddenly going to be fired. And getting the support of fans who already dislike Red Bull’s driver policies isn’t going to be worth much at all when Jaime isn’t racing. Alguersuari needs to be concentrating on getting a drive for 2013, not what was said in 2011. If Toro Rosso really were mistaken in firing him, it will soon show, and Alguersuari should have no trouble securing a decent race seat for next year. But in the meantime, there is no use crying over spilt milk.

    1. It would help if Marko himself moved on – Jaime’s been on a response setting so far, while Marko’s initiated all the rants about the past…

  21. Wasn’t Marko the same person who blamed Webber for the 2010 Turkish accident, while video footage showed the contrary? Wow, this guy is really something else, and I don’t mean that in a positive way.

  22. Helmut Marko has a negative effect on Red Bull’s image. They should get rid.

    1. @shimks He’s also delivered a double world champion at only 24 years of age. That’s vindication enough, at least for a few years.

      1. Was it Marko that discovered Vettel?

  23. COTD – all is not lost. The Beeb will at least be showing half of the races live, with extended highlights of the others, of which a fair number are the flyaway races, so will be on in the afternoon. I know it wont be the same as watching it live, which I’m lucky to be doing, but it’s not all doom and gloom!

    5live have an excellent line up this year, and there are many great forums/websites, such as this one, to discuss and read up on F1 related goodness.

    1. @jamesf1 Congrats on the COTD. I did notice your comment and thought it was certainly a breath of fresh air!

  24. I feel sorry for Jaime. Helmut Marko’s comments are unnecessary and pointless considering the fact, as Jaime pointed out, the last year’s Toro Rosso was at best a midpack chassis. As a team, they have won one grands prix with Vettel, and that was in the rain at Monza three and a half years ago. Toro Rosso themselves don’t come across as winners, and lets be honest here, they just make up the numbers and are a stepping stone to the Red Bull team.
    As others have mentioned, much has been made of Vettel’s success and his climbing the ranks of Red Bull’s youth program. However, think of the drivers since 2005 Red Bull have churned through and how many have succeeded. Sebastien Vettel is the only one! When they tried an American driver they could only muster Scott Speed, and that was a project that deserved someone getting fired.
    Factor into the equation that Jaime has taken his dropping like a man unlike others and it makes Helmut Marko look all the more like a prat doesn’t it?

  25. I appreciate the topic of course but The Sun wouldn’t be worthy of quoting even if it was the last lie ridden rag on the planet.

  26. Marko is a one-man person, if a driver threatens Vettel, he gets all protective like he is his son. I admire Jaime, and I thought he was worthy of an RBR ’13 seat.

    1. I thought he was worthy of an RBR ’13 seat.

      When he couldn’t outqualify Buemi?

  27. When you look at the generation Marko drove with, and you listen to some of the quotes coming from drivers of that generation, should his comments even surprise, or be taken seriously?

    Only when Red/Torro/Bull have a fall out with their drivers that they start making outlandish comments, and then, their comments are usually malicious.

  28. It doesn’t take a genius to see that Marko is a twonk, in the nicest possible way, of course.

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