Former Red Bull junior reveals 'WIN OR DIE' Helmut Marko stance amid Nyck de Vries sacking

Helmut Marko

Former Red Bull junior reveals 'WIN OR DIE' Marko stance amid De Vries sacking

Helmut Marko's standards are extremely high

Joe Ellis

Wednesday 19 July 2023 18:57

Jaime Alguersuari has claimed that the Red Bull junior setup is "win or die" under Helmut Marko.

The 33-year-old drove for Toro Rosso over a decade ago having come up through the Red Bull ranks but left in 2011 to be replaced by Jean-Eric Vergne.

He is now a DJ after retiring from motorsport at 25 years of age but still remembers how brutal Marko was on his young drivers.

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Even the best such as Sebastian Vettel, Carlos Sainz and Sebastien Buemi got the full treatment as everyone felt on a knife edge at all times.

Marko's machine school

Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi were both axed from Toro Rosso in 2011

"All of us who have gone through Red Bull have been machines," Alguersuari told AS.

"That is the school we had. Either you win or you die. It was all a matter of survival or death.

"We have all felt that maximum pressure from Dr Marko. Carlos, Vettel, Buemi, me... there were calls in which he told us 'If you don't win the next race, you won't race with us anymore'.

"If I hadn't won the British championship in 2008 I wouldn't have continued. We were always on a knife edge."

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