Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has played down suggestions of a lack of top talent in their driver stable.
Once flourishing with choice, many of whom have since achieved success elsewhere, now the company is taking former members back on with the likes of Brendon Hartley, Daniil Kvyat and Alex Albon all rejoining over the past two years.
There are also concerns about the quality of the talent currently on board after Pierre Gasly couldn’t get close to Max Verstappen in his 12 races at Red Bull and has now been replaced by the aforementioned Albon.
Looking down the ladder, only Patricio O’Ward and Lucas Auer appear viable options in the short-term with both racing in Japan’s Super Formula, but Marko is not worried.
“It’s just a short-term problem. Young talents are growing well,” he was quoted by GPFans.
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The Austrian then talked up his achievement of creating such a program for young drivers.
“I was the first to create a driver training system like this. Ferrari and Mercedes just copied it,” he claimed.
“I’m proud that the Red Bull system works very well. It’s obvious if you look at successive Red Bull drivers.”
Marko then concluded by revealing he had an interest in one current driver on the F1 grid but explained why he opted against him.
“I thought he was a very good driver, but he lacked the speed over one lap. So I decided not to hire him, but as a result, my view was right,” he said.
“He is still doing well in the race, but inferior to his teammates in qualifying. I think that there is a problem there that cannot make a step forward.”
Taking a guess that does sound suspiciously like Lance Stroll, who has proven his race pace but has only made it out Q1 once this season.