Not only in the land of the blind, but also among those with sight, the one-eyed man is king. Helmut Marko is the longest-serving talent scout. And the least successful, claims Noël Ummels.
He stands roughly 1.60 meters tall, so it’s easy to overlook him, but it’s a bit like searching for your right hand at the bottom of your left leg. The coveted podium spot in front of a home crowd didn’t materialize, but it’s clear that since his debut with Red Bull at the Grand Prix of Japan, Yuki Tsunoda is finally the man who at least comes close to teammate Max Verstappen. It took years to find him within their own ranks. There were plenty of reasons not to put him in that seat earlier: too inconsistent, prone to mistakes, mentally unstable, explosive behind the wheel. That may all be true, but then hire a mental coach. A sports psychologist could have accelerated his development by years.
And now, suddenly, that handful of negatives has disappeared like snow in the sun? No, Red Bull, and especially the man whose job it is, has once again demonstrated a strong display of incompetence in talent scouting. Helmut Marko has been doing this job for decades and is often praised for it, while in fact, he’s making a mess of it. A tally shows that he has gone through over a hundred Red Bull juniors in the feeder classes. Often, he only gave them a year, sometimes a bit longer. And then he also declared a number of them surplus in Formula 1, including among the current generation Carlos Sainz, Alexander Albon, and Pierre Gasly. Fine drivers, but no trailblazers. Conversely, he missed trailblazers like Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton.
‘No Vision, but Trial and Error’
This approach does not demonstrate vision, it is simply trial-and-error. It’s like shooting at random and hoping for a top talent to emerge. This is why Marko’s resume boasts that he discovered Sebastian Vettel. The balance: over a hundred attempts to find the cream of the crop yielded only one world champion. To put it kindly, his judgement leaves much to be desired.
Yet, it seems he is now set to redeem himself. Marko recently turned 82 and the years are starting to show. His statements hint at an impending retirement, and he already has his ideal successor in mind: the very same Sebastian Vettel. There’s a good chance he’ll hit the bullseye with this choice for the second time. Vettel is the sociable type who is eager to offer the next generation the same opportunities he received from Red Bull. It’s no coincidence that he coaches young female kart racers in Saudi Arabia. He’s much gentler than Marko and keeps both eyes on the prize.
Vettel doesn’t need to take a hundred shots to hit the target once. He will be stricter in his selection policy, with only room for genuine talent. And if you’re stricter in your initial selection, you don’t have to constantly ruthlessly discard your half-baked experiments. Red Bull was already planning to shrink its talent pool. However, Vettel must want the job, of course. Will Tsunoda still pass the selection process? Only time will tell.
