Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko is always on the lookout for the best drivers to add to his roster.
His official role involves looking after the young drivers within the team and right now he’ll be wondering how to find a seat for Liam Lawson on the grid in 2025.
In an interview with Kleine Zeitung, Marko has admitted that there are two more drivers he would love to sign for Red Bull.
In an ideal world, Red Bull don’t have to worry about their driver line-up for a while.
Max Verstappen is signed up until the end of the 2028 season and you wouldn’t bet against him securing world championship number four and five in the next two years.
His teammate Sergio Perez is out of contract at the end of the year, but he’s started 2024 brilliantly, securing three 2-place finishes for the team.
Japan was Perez’s best performance in a long time and came at a very important moment with the driver market starting to kick into action.
Marko has now suggested that he would interested in signing McLaren pair Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the future.
Both drivers are already signed up to long-term deals with Andrea Stella’s team.
However, the opportunity to join the fastest team on the grid might be difficult to turn down if a contract is put in front of them.
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Helmut Marko admits he would be ‘interested’ in signing Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris
Red Bull may be in a position where they have to start thinking about other drivers on the market.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff is willing to offer Verstappen terms that even Lewis Hamilton never earned to convince him to join the Silver Arrows.
Given the internal politics within the team, he might just be tempted to move on if things get too much or he gets an inkling that Red Bull won’t be as dominant when using their new power unit during the 2026 regulation changes.
A downturn in Sergio Perez’s form would also pose a conundrum for Christian Horner.
Carlos Sainz is the obvious candidate to replace the Mexican in that scenario.
However, Marko is always looking to bring the strongest young drivers into the Red Bull fold and Piastri and Norris fit the bill.
While they don’t have a Grand Prix victory between them yet – the Australian has won a Sprint Race – they’re arguably the two drivers with the highest potential on the grid.
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Red Bull hold long-term interest in both McLaren drivers
In the interview, it’s mentioned to Marko that Lando Norris is often mentioned as an option for Red Bull.
The Austrian replied: “[Lando] Norris has at least a contract until 2026, so he is not an option in the short term, nor is Oscar Piastri.
“But both drivers are certainly interesting for us in the future.”
It’s not the first time that Piastri and Norris have been linked with Helmut Marko’s team.
When the rumours of Verstappen leaving Red Bull were at their height, Piastri appeared to be one of the main candidates to replace the Dutchman.
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Lando Norris has also been touted as a potential Verstappen replacement but the new contract he signed this year would make that a serious expensive option.
Andrea Stella and Zak Brown won’t be too worried about losing either McLaren any time soon.
They will know that they need to produce a race-winning sooner rather than later otherwise both drivers will be looking elsewhere to fulfil their obvious potential.
The post ‘Certainly interesting for us’: Helmut Marko names two drivers he would love to sign for Red Bull one day appeared first on F1 Oversteer.
