Jak Crawford, banned from Red Bull’s junior program, has revealed Helmut Marko’s “brutally honest” behavior, to the point of making “unfair” phone calls to him after a bad race weekend.
Crawford, 18, fell to Red Bull after last year’s Formula 2 championship when his initial crusade with Hitech Pulse-Eight ended him in 13th place in the drivers’ standings.
Despite scoring six podiums and a quick win at Red Bull’s track in Spielberg, the team shares tactics with the American.
The move ended his post-race talks with Red Bull motorsport advisor Marko, while Crawford revealed that the Austrian, who is part of Red Bull’s youth programme, may simply be “brutally honest”, but almost “unfair”.
“The hardest thing is, obviously, the tension and the expectations that are placed on you,” she told Racer about her relationship with Marko.
“He has a lot of confidence in his drivers, but he also expects a lot. And sometimes, if you’re not directly in the F2 paddock and you know what’s going on, it can be tricky to know what’s going on in terms of team or driver functionality. and so on.
“So sometimes that can play a factor in how he sees things. But definitely the biggest thing is, the last thing you want is to have a bad weekend and receive a phone call from Helmut to say to come meet him.
“He’s very busy, so you end up waiting for him. And then you get there and he comes up and says, “So. . . “In a very deep voice! Then he asks, “What happened?” And their conversations are very brief, very direct.
“Sometimes he’s brutally honest. That’s the right way to put it. Sometimes it can be too brutally honest, unfair, so to speak, but it’s not that bad. For me, it was very, very brief and very direct.
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Despite Red Bull’s support, Crawford will continue to compete in Formula 2 this season after signing with DAMS.
“It’s quite a weird feeling – I feel like I’ve been doing this a long time, but then you look at my age, compared to most of the guys, I’m probably one of the youngest still in F2,” he said.
“So it’s very strange to see it, because I feel like I’ve had a long career in single-seaters so far. And if you take a look at some of the guys who are in their twenties, they delight a lot more than they do. I do it in single-seaters.
“I feel like I’m in a smart position. It’s a bit strange to say I’ve been with Red Bull for 4 years, I’ve been dropped and I’m only 18 years old. It’s a bit strange to say this, however, I think it’s a smart opportunity for me, free of pressure.
Crawford has reportedly already signed via Aston Martin, although the American would not confirm this other than saying: “I think it’s quite imaginable to fight for the [F2] championship this year. That’s my goal.
“And he’s also the one I was introduced to by the F1 team. It’s not that they’re under a lot of pressure from them to do that, it’s obviously just a purpose, but it’s also a purpose for me. So we’re on the same page.
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