Axed Red Bull driver reveals 'brutal' Helmut Marko methods

F1 News & Gossip

Axed Red Bull driver reveals 'brutal' Marko methods

Jak Crawford was dropped by Red Bull after a disappointing finish in F2

Cal Gaunt

Tuesday 30 January 2024 17:57

Following his exit from Red Bull's junior program after the F2 championship last year, 18-year-old Jak Crawford has shed light on the "brutally honest" post-race calls from Helmut Marko.

Despite securing six podium finishes with Hitech Pulse-Eight, including a Sprint win at Spielberg, Crawford found himself in 13th place in the drivers' standings, prompting Red Bull to part ways.

Now, Crawford has described Marko's conversations post-race as blunt and, at times, bordering on "unfair".

Helmut Marko has been a trusted member of the Red Bull hierarchy for some time

Marko is 'very straight to the point'

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“I think the hardest things are obviously the pressure and expectation that is set on you,” he told Racer.

“He puts a lot of faith in his drivers, but he also expects a lot. And sometimes, if you’re not directly in the F2 paddock, knowing what’s going on, it can be difficult to tell with regards to team performance or driver performance and stuff like that.

“So sometimes that can play a factor in how he sees things. But definitely the biggest thing is, the last thing you want is to have a bad weekend and receive a phone call from Helmut to say to come meet him.

“He’s very busy, so you end up waiting on him. And then you sit there and he just walks up, and then he says, ‘So…’ in a very deep voice! Then he asks ‘What happened?’ And his conversations are very short, very straight to the point.

“Sometimes he’s brutally honest. That’s the right way to say it. Sometimes it can be too brutally honest, where it can be unfair at times, if you want to say, but it’s not so bad. To me it was very, very short, and very to the point.”