Tony BrooksOne Formula 1 racer in the late 1950s and early 1960s, severely criticizing his former boss in racing, EnzoFerrari: “He thinks the psychological pressure will produce better results for the riders… .You can make the most of your abilities, but once you start getting up to doing things that you don’t feel are within your power, it becomes stupid.” Not afraid of dying on the line, Il Commendatore’s behavior back in the day sounded very similar to Red Bull Racing Team Get access to your own driver in modern Formula 1.
See, Enzo Ferrari wants to be the best, but he knows that a powerful car with a powerful engine is only one part of the equation; He also needs the best racers in the world behind the wheel of his racing machines. So he will find and sign the best talent in the motorsport world, maintaining a steady portfolio of top-level talent under his direction.
There’s just one problem: not all of those drivers can race the Scuderia Ferrari in Formula 1.
It is by design. Enzo wanted his drivers to be pushed to the brink of tearing. He wanted Wolfgang von Trips to look over his teammate Phil Hill’s shoulder as the two fought for the 1961 World Championship. During a dinner before the 1957 Mille Miglia, Ferrari angered Alfonso de Portago by pointing out that he was sure will definitely finish behind teammate Olivier Gendebien; As a result, de Portago ignored the mechanic’s warning that a tire was rubbing against the body of his car before plunging, cutting himself in two and knocking out a line of nine spectators. Ferrari encouraged growing rivalry between Luigi Musso, Peter Collins and Mike Hawthorn, and it got to the point where both Musso and Collins committed suicide trying to prove their worth on the track. Winning the 1958 Word Championship, Hawthorn immediately retired before he too could be killed in a Ferrari. Three months later, he died in a traffic accident.
Ferrari’s mind game takes many forms. He used politics to create a driver hierarchy. He duplicated the driver’s error, reminding them of every car they’ve ever hit. He signed a contract with the drivers but refused to let them race in Formula 1. Between 1955 and 1971, eight Ferrari drivers died racing Ferraris – this number doesn’t even take into account the racers. like Gilles Villeneuve or Charles de Tornaco. Other drivers like Niki Lauda were injured in the Ferrari — and Lauda was forced to return to the track when Ferrari lost confidence in his resilience. Ferrari wants its driver to be desperate. He wanted them to be scared. He wants to turn a magnanimous, charismatic opponent into an unconfident paranoid.
And without that “deadly” consequence, Enzo Ferrari’s mindset sounds a lot like the way Red Bull Racing works – as if Helmut Marko and Christian Horner had taken a page out of their psychological warfare drama. Ferrari. But Red Bull has to admit to improving the formula.
Many important aspects of Enzo Ferrari’s faith as a team owner are replicated on a larger scale with Red Bull Racing, AlphaTauri and the Red Bull Junior Program. The Kids program not only seeks out the best talent available, but cultivates and cultivates that talent in young drivers as early as 11 years old.
By signing up anyone with a half-baked chance to become a formidable racer, the Teen Program almost guarantees itself a future World Champion. If the conditions are right – if the car has dominated the regulations of the time, if the driver has been dedicated enough – then Red Bull is happy. If the conditions aren’t right, those drivers will be pitted against each other as they vie for an F1 seat.
We only need to look back at recent history to see this in action. In its quest to find the next miracle boys like Sebastian Vettel or Max Verstappen, Red Bull has asked for more of its young riders than many can reasonably achieve – and if they fail to show. Within the team’s increasingly short window of opportunity, they will catch the ax.
In the modern era of F1, deaths behind the wheel are rare. Instead, Red Bull has had to go the house-cleaning route: demoting or firing drivers as it sees fit, while also signing up as much young talent as possible to replenish its stores.
Ferrari’s mindset has led to a kind of mental breakdown unique to his drivers, and many have pushed themselves to the grave trying to meet Il Commendatore’s high standards. Red Bull has pushed its drivers to a similar extent.
Jaime Alguersuari, who was promoted to Toro Rosso midway through the 2009 season, is an example. Alguersuari and his teammate Sebastién Buemi failed to live up to the high expectations set by Sebastian Vettel, and the 19-year-old driver became the youngest in the field by the time he replaced 30-year-old Sebastién Bourdais. But it was expected that Alguersuari would fill a very large pair of shoes, and he did not. He was fired in 2011, then tried to race in Formula E before announcing his very abrupt – and early – retirement at the age of 25.
Why retire? In 2022, Alguersuari declared That enormous amount of therapy failed to heal the “trauma” left in him during his time with Helmut Marko and the Red Bull Junior Program.
“I was unable to delete this. I did therapy, when I retired, some psychologists helped me,” he said. “Now, even so, strange things still pop into my head. And sometimes wake up, like, cry, dream that I’ve done a great lap only to see Mr. Marko’s face, angry.
Or consider one of Alguersuari’s replacements, Jean-Éric Vergne. In an attempt to gain an edge over his shorter, leaner teammates in an era where the driver’s weight is factored into the total weight of an F1 car, Vergne starve yourself to the point of hospitalization. Despite putting in relatively good performances while suffering from malnutrition and dehydration, Vergne knew early on that this would be his final season in Formula 1 in 2014. And Helmut Marko was already there. steadfast with his gun in that bout, even as Sebastian Vettel’s defection opened up a surprising slot in the Red Bull Race. Instead of keeping the more experienced Vergne on, Marko promoted Daniil Kvyat and filled the Toro Rosso void alongside Max Verstappen with Carlos Sainz Jr.
After leaving F1, Vergne switched to Formula E, although it took him some time to shake off the paranoia he had acquired during the Red Bull Junior Program. Vergne ran the first few laps in an electric car with open wheels recall that “I really feel like I’m trapped after my F1 days.”
Since then, we have continued to see the ruthless elimination of the Red Bull and Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) teams. In 2016, Kvyat was demoted from Red Bull Racing, and Max Verstappen was promoted because Kvyat’s performance did not meet Marko’s standards. The following year, 2017, Kvyat was replaced by Pierre Gasly for the Malaysian Grand Prix, and Carlos Sainz Jr. switch to Renault with a few races left in the year. However, Gasly was still contesting his Super Formula championship and missed out on the United States Grand Prix, leaving Brendan Hartley in his place. Kvyat was allowed to enter that USGP competition because the team had no other drivers in line; he was released soon after.
After a quiet 2018, Hartley was released from Toro Rosso in 2019 in exchange for Alexander Albon, while Pierre Gasly was promoted to Red Bull — and then demoted back to Toro Rosso, to be replaced by Albon. . Albon continues until after 2020, when Red Bull signs a non-Red Bull driver for its main team Sergio Perez for 2021.
Now, we face the same reality: Nyck de Vries was fired by AlphaTauri because he failed to meet Marko’s expectations. Although de Vries is technically a rookie, Marko disagree: “He is 28 years old, has a lot of experience and has also accumulated a lot of knowledge from testing various Formula 1 cars. You can’t compare him to a young rookie in my eyes. Why do we have to wait, and what does two more races mean if you don’t see any improvement?
He will instead be replaced by Daniel Ricciardo, who Marko claims is slower than both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in the simulator but would have no place in F1 without the help of his former team. .
Red Bull’s mindset has produced feats like Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, but it has destroyed the egos of countless other drivers to get there, in the same way that Enzo Ferrari wasn’t afraid to sacrifice some rank. his way to ensure glory for his team.
Even without Enzo at the helm, Ferrari has been a force to be reckoned with since that first F1 race, even as it has stumbled along the way. Perhaps the Marko Helmet and Christian Horner also want to ruthlessly tear through the history books – but, like Ferrari, its glorious light will always contrast with the darkness created by its own behaviour.
