Red Bull may have a reputation for being brutal when it comes to its young drivers, but Helmut Marko says at least the team doesn\u2019t throw its drivers in the deep end like Mercedes has done with Kimi Antonelli.<\/p>\n
And especially not after talking them up as the next big thing in Formula 1.<\/p>\n
Helmut Marko defends Red Bull amidst Kimi Antonelli\u2019s struggles<\/p>\n
Antonelli<\/a> entered Formula 1 this season, billed as a once-in-a-generation talent and a teenage protege.<\/p>\n Scoring points in five of his first six race weekends, the Italian seemed to be living up to the billing, only for his head to drop as he recorded a run of retirements interrupted by a debut podium at the Canadian Grand Prix.<\/p>\n Such was the pressure of his situation that, out in Q1 at the Belgian Grand Prix, an emotional Antonelli faced the media appearing to be on the verge of tears.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you okay?\u201d asked the concerned journalist.<\/p>\n Antonelli: \u201cYeah, I\u2019m okay.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah?\u201d<\/p>\n Antonelli just nodded.<\/p>\n The 18-year-old bounced back to record a top-ten finish at the Hungarian Grand Prix and went into the summer break on the back of a confidence-boosting race as he raced from 16th on the grid to 10th at the chequered flag.<\/p>\n Interviewed by F1 Insider, it was put to Marko that had Antonelli been a member of the Red Bull junior programme, he would\u2019ve been dropped when his results dipped.<\/p>\n The brutal world of Formula 1:<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Revealed: The shortest F1 careers this century in the brutal world of Formula 1<\/a><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 The ten greatest mid-season F1 driver swaps of the 21st century<\/a><\/p>\n Marko hit back at that.<\/p>\n \u201cThe difference,\u201d replied the Red Bull motorsport advisor, \u201cour juniors first drive for the Racing Bulls and aren\u2019t immediately exposed to the pressure of F1. We also don\u2019t create hype around a young driver before they\u2019re in an F1 car.\u201d<\/p>\n The Austrian, though, did concede that Red Bull is in a position where it has a junior team to blood the next generation of Red Bull drivers.<\/p>\n Asked for his take on Antonelli, Marko said it was fortunate for Red Bull that Mercedes isn\u2019t in a position to offer Antonelli a pressure-free environment at a junior team.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, they [Mercedes] don\u2019t have a junior team,\u201d he said. \u201cSure, I don\u2019t want to comment on how things work with other teams.<\/p>\n \u201cAntonelli is certainly a very fast driver, but also very young, and strangely enough, we spoke briefly at the hotel in Spa, and he said that he doesn\u2019t have confidence in the car and as soon as he pushes, he loses control.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, it\u2019s more a mental thing, and apparently the car is also very critical in the working window, similar to ours, and when it works, then it\u2019s much more toxic.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cKimi just needs to be given time to recover, just as [Liam] Lawson rediscovered his form with Racing Bulls. But thankfully, Mercedes doesn\u2019t have the luxury of a second team.\u201d<\/p>\n Antonelli has scored 64 points so far this season to sit P7 in the Drivers\u2019 Championship<\/a> where he is 106 points behind his team-mate George Russell. The Briton, who is fourth on the log, is in a battle with Max Verstappen to join the McLaren team-mates on the F1 2025 podium.<\/p>\n