Red Bull team figures were out in force on Wednesday, playing down links with Kimi Raikkonen and suggesting Mark Webber will be staying in 2012.

It has been reported that the energy drink owned team had targeted world rally and NASCAR driver Raikkonen, F1′s 2007 world champion and a former race winner for McLaren and Ferrari, for next year after Australian Webber openly ignored team orders during the British grand prix on Sunday.

But team owner Dietrich Mateschitz is quoted by the German news agency SID: “There is still no doubt about Mark’s contract extension.

“He feels comfortable with us and within the team is very popular,” he told the Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten.

“He can not get a better car, and we can not get a better driver from the market,” added Mateschitz.

Team boss Christian Horner was reportedly furious with Webber’s insubordination at Silverstone, but Mateschitz seems less bothered.

“I understand that he wanted to come further forward; he would be a bad racer if he did not try,” said the billionaire.

As for the Raikkonen rumours, Mateschitz’s F1 right-hand man Dr Helmut Marko told TZ: “Kimi Raikkonen is not and will not be an issue for us. He definitely will not drive at Red Bull.

“These rumours are far-fetched and total nonsense,” added the Austrian.

Marko added that when Red Bull is ready to replace Webber, it will be with a driver from the company’s own talent pool.

Red Bull’s preparations for the FIA clampdown on so-called ‘hot’ exhaust diffuser blowing are well advanced, Dr Helmut Marko has warned.
Marko said on Austrian television Servus TV that he regards the clampdown as a move against Sebastian Vettel’s dominance, after Red Bull pioneered and perfected the technology for its RB7 car.

But team owner Dietrich Mateschitz’s right-hand man on F1 matters warned: “We would not be Red Bull if we did not already have ideas about how to mitigate the effect (of the ban).”

Off-throttle hot-blowing will be effectively banned from Silverstone next month, and on Tuesday it emerged that the FIA has immediately banned teams from running highly aggressive engine maps in qualifying and then switching to a more reliable race mode for the grand prix.

Marko has compared the FIA’s moves with the end-of-season banning of double diffusers and F-ducts, noting that “This time it (the ban) seems to be in a hurry.

“I would say it is about (the dominance of) Red Bull,” he charged.

But the Austrian thinks McLaren will be similarly affected by the clampdown because “they copied our system very well”, while Ferrari “never really got it under control”.

Marko, meanwhile, predicted Renault – with unique front-exiting exhausts – to be hit particularly hard.

But Renault’s technical director James Allison responded: “Some teams will lose more and some teams less; it is hard to know exactly what relative loss we will suffer.”

Meanwhile, a FIA spokesman explained that the immediate engine-mapping clampdown is because the spirit of the ‘parc ferme’ rules was being exploited.

Charlie Whiting’s technical note to the teams on Tuesday insisted that cars “should be raced exactly as they qualified”.

Dr Helmut Marko is defiantly confident after the first two test days in the life of Red Bull’s 2011 car.
Wearing the number 1 on the nose for world champion Sebastian Vettel, the RB7 has been impressive so far at the Ricardo Tormo track near Valencia, Spain.

Wednesday’s action was watched on by the team’s owner Dietrich Mateschitz, but it was his right-hand man Marko who gushed the loudest.

“If a race were held now, we would lap everybody,” the Austrian told Bild newspaper. “How our car goes through the corners is amazing.”

Even the usually-reserved Mateschitz sounded very confident.

“This will be our third strong year in a row,” the billionaire energy drinks magnate predicted.

Said 23-year-old driver Vettel: “I cannot complain as I’m satisfied so far, but all the cars will still change considerably. Whether we’re ahead or not is hard to say.”

Mercedes’ Norbert Haug said: “I don’t think they’re looking too bad.”

And seven time world champion Michael Schumacher jokingly agreed. “The new Red Bull?” said the German. “Looks good. The colour, I mean …”

There would never have been a single mention of team orders at Red Bull had Sebastian Vettel enjoyed a run of technical reliability in 2010.
That is the claim of Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s ever-controversial driver manager and motor racing right-hand man to team owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

Vettel, the new reigning champion, and his teammate butted heads last year when Webber led the championship and pundits pushed the wisdom of a team strategy in the Australian’s favour.

There were claims of team favouritism in Vettel’s favour but Red Bull clung to its stated policy of equality and the young German ultimately won the battle.

But speaking to Sport Bild, Austrian Marko hinted that Vettel’s dominance last year was muted only by technical setbacks.

“Without the 66 points he (Vettel) lost due to technical defects, the standoff with Mark Webber would never have occurred,” he said.

Team orders have been legalised for 2011 but Marko is adamant that Red Bull’s policy will not change.

“We don’t use them (team orders) because the sporting aspect should be the primary focus of formula one,” he insisted.

Strategy chief Neil Martin was not Ferrari’s only target at the 2010 championship winning Red Bull team.
That is the claim of Helmut Marko, the right-hand man of Red Bull team owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

He is referring to Ferrari’s recent announcement that Briton Martin, 38, has switched from Red Bull for 2011.

“Ferrari have made massive efforts to get our people,” Marko told Bild newspaper.

“But everyone has stayed in the boat,” he said. “This is important, because we have an unique spirit in the team and I get the feeling Ferrari wants to have it,” he added.

Sebastian Vettel would be “stupid” to switch to Ferrari if he knows Red Bull can supply a quicker car.
That is the view of Helmut Marko, the energy drink company Red Bull’s motor racing right-hand man for team owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

Austrian Marko, 67, is known to be close to fellow German speaker and new world champion Vettel, but the 23-year-old has recently been musing about a future switch to Ferrari.

“It’s only natural for a race driver to dream of Ferrari, and for Ferrari to want a great driver like Sebastian,” he told Bild newspaper.

But Marko is not worried that Vettel will make the switch any time soon.

“Sebastian won’t leave us just because of the Ferrari legend,” he insisted. “He is smart enough to know that the time would have to be right for him.

“He would have to be stupid to go there with Fernando Alonso.

“We are the world championship team, and as long as we offer Sebastian a package that is better than the others, he’s not going to leave just because of a mythical history,” added Marko.

Jaime Alguersuari could test Red Bull’s title-winning RB6 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, the Spanish sports daily Marca reports.

Currently, only the new world champion Sebastian Vettel is scheduled to drive the Renault-powered car at Yas Marina later this week, when the F1 teams will get their first taste of the new Pirelli tyres for 2011.

Many teams are fielding their complete race lineup for the Pirelli test, but Australian Mark Webber is reportedly heading off on holiday instead.

Marca said young Spaniard Alguersuari is under contract through 2013 not to Toro Rosso but to its owner Red Bull, the energy drink company.

The report said the 20-year-old chatted at length in Abu Dhabi last weekend with Dr Helmut Marko, who is Dietrich Mateschitz’s right hand man and the head of Red Bull’s driver programme.

Red Bull’s top staff are the envy of the formula one pitlane, according to Dr Helmut Marko.

“Of the top 30 people who work for us, there is no one who has not already received an offer from a competing team,” said the Austrian, who is Dietrich Mateschitz’s right hand man on motor racing matters.

Last Sunday, at its sixth attempt since taking over Jaguar in 2005, Red Bull Racing wrapped up the 2010 world constructors’ championship.

At the very top of Marko’s ‘top 30′ employees – and the highest paid – is designer Adrian Newey.

“He has said several times that Red Bull will be his last job in F1,” said Marko, referring to Briton Newey who has also designed title-winning cars for Williams and McLaren.

Newey, 51, said this week he intends to stay in F1 for “a while to come”.

Rival teams are pointing fingers at Red Bull not only because the RB6 is quick, according to Dr Helmut Marko.

Team consultant Marko, Austrian team owner Dietrich Mateschitz’s right-hand man, is referring to the fact that powerful F1 rivals have been complaining all season about the alleged illegality of the Adrian Newey-penned car.

“It is not just our success,” he is quoted by Kleine Zeitung newspaper.

“We have at most the third biggest budget in formula one.  We are a private team, not a car manufacturer, and that hurts them even more,” added Marko.

He said he has “lost count” of the number of legality tests carried out by the FIA that the RB6 has always passed.

“It is continually suspected that our cars are not according to the rules,” said Marko.

“If we put in the same amount of energy on watching what the other teams are doing, as some of the others do, then our car would not be as fast.

“This is just part of the psychological warfare.  We can only take it in our stride,” he added.

Marko also revealed that the men who have contributed to the success of the dominant RB6 are constantly courted by rival teams.

“All of our top talent have long-term commitments, but they’ve all had other offers,” he said.

“Adrian (Newey) could earn more money somewhere else, but it is with us that he can really work freely.  Our philosophy suits him best, the spirit in our team is unique and we are all aimed in the same direction.”

Even though the leads should arguably be much bigger, Red Bull is narrowly heading both championship tables at present.

“There are seven races left,” said Marko.  “It will be crucial to have no failures, because our goal is the world title.

“And we want to maintain this same level for the next five years,” he added.

Jun.12 (GMM) Sebastien Buemi must up his game if he wants to secure his place in Red Bull’s formula one plans.

That was the warning issued in Canada by Dr Helmut Marko, the energy drinks company’s consultant and right-hand man of owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

Swiss youngster Buemi, 21, impressed the F1 world throughout his formula one debut with Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso in 2009.

He saw off the challenges of his teammates Sebastien Bourdais and Jaime Alguersuari, but in 2010 the Spanish rookie Alguersuari has shown much better alongside Buemi.

“I must admit that, this year, it has not gone as well as I would have liked (for Buemi),” Marko told the French language Swiss daily Le Matin.

“During the races, Sebastien has been really unlucky so we cannot draw any conclusion. But in the sessions, he has not been as quick as last year in comparison with his teammate.

“It’s a little disappointing,” added Austrian Marko.

Buemi had been considered a shoo-in for a future role at Red Bull Racing, but the premier team has now locked in its 2011 lineup of Mark Webber alongside Sebastian Vettel.

Marko said of Buemi: “It’s time for him to prove his talent. If he does, this will ensure his place next year at Toro Rosso.

“It’s a very good team for a young driver to learn the trade, especially since they had to produce their own car this season, giving more importance to the role of the driver.”

Jun.9 (GMM)  Jacques Villeneuve has become the latest pundit to comment on the crash between the Red Bull cars at the recent Turkish grand prix.

The aftermath of Sebastian Vettel’s clash with Mark Webber was highly controversial, as most outsiders initially blamed Vettel but Red Bull chiefs pointed the finger at Australian Webber.

It emerged that Webber’s engine was in a fuel-saving mode – although team figures initially refused to confirm that was the case – and that his engineer had declined to pass on a radio message advising him to let his young German teammate through.

Then, as the official line became more conciliatory, figures close to team owner Dietrich Mateschitz including Max Mosley and Gerhard Berger renewed the criticism of Webber, before the 33-year-old was re-signed for the 2011 season.

The latest twist is that Mateschitz’s right-hand man Dr Helmut Marko says the pair are still free to race, but must not stridently resist each other’s advances.

“Both cars were out in the lead, but drivers are drivers and it is always difficult for one to give 110 per cent while the other does not,” Villeneuve wrote in a column for rds.ca.

“After the race, the reaction of the team seemed strange — to assign fault to someone so quickly and categorically.

“But you never know what really happened when you’ve looked at the situation from the outside as I did,” added the 39-year-old French Canadian.

Meanwhile, 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen thinks the only lingering effect of the crash is that Vettel and Webber will from now on behave “a bit more carefully” when they are wheel-to-wheel.

“In a similar situation you would just behave a bit differently so that it doesn’t happen again,” the Red Bull-sponsored world rally driver told Austrian Servus TV.

“It was just an incident in the race and now it’s finished,” he added.

As Red Bull drew a line under the matter on Thursday, former FIA president Max Mosley waded into the debate about the collision between Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel in Turkey.

After a meeting in Milton-Keynes on Thursday, the team issued a statement that included a jovial photo of the teammates with the caption ‘Shit happens’.

“I’m sorry for the team that we lost the lead of the race.  Mark and I are racers and we were racing,” German Vettel, 22, is quoted as saying.

With the blame-game apparently put to bed, Mosley however told the German newspaper Die Welt that he thinks the crash was Australian Webber’s fault.

Interestingly, 70-year-old Briton Mosley is a close friend and former F1 ally of Red Bull’s Austrian billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz.

Dr Helmut Marko, also Austrian and Mateschitz’s right-hand man on motor racing matters, also initially blamed Webber for the lap-40 shunt at Istanbul Park.

“From my perspective,” said former long-time FIA president Mosley, “I do not think that Sebastian Vettel should receive the blame for the collision.”

Mosley added: “At the time of the accident Vettel was clearly faster than Webber.  At this stage he (Vettel) had the right and the duty to overtake.”

Red Bull has revealed that Webber was running a fuel-saving engine setting while Vettel was not, and that the Australian radioed the pits to ask the McLaren-pressured Vettel to drop back.

Moreover, the team claims Webber’s race engineer Ciaron Pilbeam failed to pass on a radio message warning the 33-year-old not to repel an attack by Vettel, whose tyres were reportedly also in better shape than Webber’s.

Marko aside, most of the F1 world said it was Vettel who aggressively turned right whilst alongside the sister RB6 driven by Webber.

“I do not agree,” said Mosley, strongly siding with Marko, who along with team boss Christian Horner also attended Thursday’s clear-the-air meeting.

Said Mosley: “It can be clearly seen that Vettel had already passed Webber before the collision, and at that time Webber should have given him more space — especially as they were already on the far left side of the track.

“Now you could argue (about the blame) if it had not been Webber’s teammate, but as it was, he (Webber) should have respected his responsibility to the team.

“Remember, both cars were doing almost 300kph, so considering the risk, he (Webber) should have taken a chance to improve his position at another point in the race.”

When told by the Welt interviewer that the same rationale also applies to Vettel, Mosley answered: “The crucial point speaks for Vettel and against Webber — that one driver in this moment was fast, while the other was slow.”

Mosley, who speaks fluent German, also said he does not believe Red Bull’s apparent desire to see Vettel ahead of Webber amounts to illegal team orders.

“I cannot see that,” said the Briton.  “Vettel was under pressure from Lewis Hamilton, he was faster than Webber, and to shake off the McLaren he needed to pass the slower Webber.

“Even if this situation was declared to the drivers by radio, this would not be a team order or a manipulation of the drivers’ championship, but rather an explanation of a particular situation — (it is) necessary information for the drivers.”

Comparing the situation to Ferrari’s infamous place-swapping in Austria in 2002, Mosley said “one was a conscious manipulation of the world championship, the other is the legitimate explanation of a racing situation.”

(GMM)