Red Bull Chief Helmut Marko Admits Blunder By Losing Chance To Sign Hamilton

Former professional racing driver and current Red Bull Chief Helmut admits not signing Lewis Hamilton to Red Bull was a tactical mistake.

Hamilton moved to Mercedes at the end of the 2012 season because Niki Lauda convinced him to leave McLaren. It had been revealed as well there were talks at the time between Marko and Hamilton.

It was a great opportunity considering Hamilton was dissatisfied with his performance at the time with McLaren, having passed up a chance at the championship.

The trouble was there was no free place with Red Bull racing, so he thought it would be better if Hamilton went to Mercedes instead. Marko then encouraged Lauda to entice the young driver.

The rest is history considering Hamilton added a further four titles to the one he claimed with McLaren with a potential sixth this season.

Marko said McLaren was their strongest opponent during that time, and in hindsight, it would have been better had Hamilton stayed with McLaren. That is until a slot became available with Red Bull Racing.

Then things would have been much more different. He admitted the tactically wrong decisions made by steering Hamilton away.

Unbeknown to Red Bull their period of dominance was about to come to an end as Sebastian Vettel won the fourth and final world title while driving alongside Mark Webber.

Marko now has the headache of considering a viable teammate for Max Verstappen for the 2020 season.

The Toro Rosso pair of Pierre Gasly and Robert Kubica are some of the possible alternatives, as well as the current Red Bull driver, Alex Albon.

Verstappen’s seat with Red Bull is sealed but there comes the decision of who to place as his partner for the next season.

A disappointing 2019 has led to Gasly’s demotion to Toro Rosso over summer. Marko is still insisting though the Frenchman can make it back to the tier 1 team if he demonstrates consistency during the second half of the season.

This is not to discount Albon considering he has adapted to his new team and ran his best race in Belgium. He finished fifth following the performance with sixth at Monza.

Upon the surprise nomination to Red bull before the Belgian Grand Prix, there was some speculation the driver was promoted because of influential Red Bull sponsors.

These include the energy drink company co-founder, Chaleo Yoovidya.

He has since been able to prove his worth so his seat should be secure if he maintains consistency is his performance.