Helmut Marko

Helmut Marko (born in Graz on 27 April 1943) is an Austrian former racing driver and current advisor to the Red Bull Racing team and head of Red Bull’s driver development program.

Marko completed a doctorate in law in 1967, before starting his racing career. He later managed the early careers of fellow Austrians Gerhard Berger and Karl Wendlinger.

He was a promising Formula 1 driver, but during the 1972 French Grand Prix at Clermont-Ferrand, a stone thrown up by Emerson Fittipaldi’s Lotus pierced Marko’s helmet visor, permanently blinding his left eye, and ending his racing career. He had participated in 10 F1 Grand Prix in 1971 and 1972, but scored no Championship points.

Helmut Marko had more success in endurance racing, winning the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans, driving a Martini-Porsche 917K with Dutch race driver Gijs van Lennep. The pairing set a distance record of 5335,3 km, at an incredible average speed of 222.304 km/h!

At the 1972 Targa Florio, in an Alfa Romeo 33TT33, he drove the fastest lap around the 72 km Sicilian mountain circuit, catching up over two minutes on the leader within two laps to finish second by a mere 17 seconds, at an average of 128,2 km/h (picture below).

From 1999, he has overseen the Red Bull driver programme, which has steered drivers such as Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen into Formula One.