F1 | Marko: “No young Red Bull player is at the same level as Verstappen”

Helmut Marko, consultant Red Bull and discoverer of talents as Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, does not believe that at the moment there may be young people capable of competing with its senior riders and that, therefore, there is still work to be done and time to pass in order to arrive at a new talent worthy of the name. Current members of the Red Bull driver development program (Red Bull Junior Team, ed.), in fact, are not at the same level as their predecessors and there does not seem to be anyone who stands out from the others.

The pilot program currently has five names: Richard Verschoor, Neil Verhagen, Dan Ticktum, Niko Kari and Pierre Gasly this last sample GP2 (current F2) and Japanese Super Formula driver.

“Of the new generation, none come close to the level of Verstappen. In GP3 we have Niko Kari, a Finnish rider. He can be very fast in the long run and possibly make it to the team,” Marko said. “There is also the young Verhagen, but he still needs time, because motorsports in America is at another level. Nothing compared to the Europeans. Verschoor has won titles in F4, but its present results are not very satisfactory. And then we have Tiicktum which is not coherent enough,” she commented.