Helmut Marko reacts to Gerhard Berger’s proposal to bring Pierre Gasly back from AlphaTauri to Red Bull’s A-team in Formula 1 in 2023
Max Verstappen is under contract with Red Bull – with success-related exit clauses, of course – until 2028. Sergio Perez’s contract in the second cockpit, on the other hand, already ends in 2022. And Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko does not rule out the possibility that in 2023 Pierre Gasly could make a comeback in the A team of the Austrian energy drink manufacturer
With Gasly, they “still have a contract until 2023”, says Marko in an interview that will be published on the YouTube channel of Formel1.de on Friday and can already be viewed exclusively for channel members. And: “If this contract expires and we can’t offer him a chance for promotion, we will most likely lose him. We don’t want that.”
Within the Red Bull family, the keyword “promotion opportunity” can only mean Red Bull Racing for Gasly. Gerhard Berger, a close confidant of Marko and “top cop” Dietrich Mateschitz, recently suggested Gasly was “good enough” to get “another chance” “as long as he delivers and gets good results. “
Marko nods, “Gerhard is right about that.” But, “At the moment we still have a contract with ‘Checo’ and we have to compare the performance of these two drivers. With ‘Checo’ we still have until the middle of the year.”
At least in the first two races of the season, Sergio Perez did not give Red Bull any reasons to end the collaboration. After Saudi Arabia, on the contrary, one even had to ask whether the Mexican would theoretically be allowed to win if Verstappen were to drive behind him.
The answer is surprising for many. It was made clear “even before the race” in Jeddah, Marko reveals, “that at such an early stage, when both of them still have zero points, there will be no stable management whatsoever”.
Perez had been unlucky and performed well: “The car suits him better, he feels more comfortable. And he knows the team. […] We are very happy that this development has taken place. “
