Red Bull boss Christian Horner explains Helmut Marko comments on women in F1

Red Bull

Horner explains Marko comments on women in F1

Dr Marko had caused a stir with his suggestion.

Matthew Scott

Thursday 2 May 2019 17:23

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Christian Horner says Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko's suggestion that female racers were unsuitable to race in Formula 1 were misunderstood and that the team would be keen to help female racers make it to the top echelon of motorsport.

"If you're driving at 300 [km/h] and have a wheel-to-wheel fight, then brutality is part of it, I do not know if that's in the female nature," Marko said in a recent interview with Kleine Zeitung.

The comments were met with a backlash in many quarters, with an added focus on women in motorsport with the upcoming debut of the all-female W Series this weekend at Hockenheim.

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Horner made attempts to explain the Austrian's comments, while putting forward his ideas for what must be done to help women into prominent race seats.

"I think they were off-the-record comments, I think they weren't… maybe they've been converted slightly," Horner said of Marko's claim.

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"From a Red Bull perspective we'd be delighted to see more girls coming into the sport; we'd be delighted to see a girl get into Formula 1 and ideally be competitive.

"I think what he was alluding to is that there is nobody in a position to be competitive in Formula 1 at the moment and I think what that needs is for more girls to get involved at the grassroots, to get involved, to go karting and there needs to be a bigger pool of them coming through the sport.

"I think that way more opportunities will present themselves.

"There's obviously a Formula W category now that starts shortly but again, where will that lead on to? They need to be able to move on from there.

"I think from a Red Bull perspective, we'd be totally in favour of seeing girls in motorsport come through – but I think it needs more involvement, and to appeal more as a sport where girls can get involved at a grassroots stage."