Helmut Marko was one of the many victims as a driver in the most dangerous era of Formula 1. Between the 50s, 60s and 70s, there were more than 30 deceased pilots, due to the scant protection for the pilots, as well as few protocols and slow actions to assist and rescue the pilots.
In that era, pilots such as Jochen Rindt, the only champion pilot after his death, died, as well as the brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodríguez, but there were other cases that, although they did not claim their lives, ended the careers of several pilotsand in that list is Helmut Marko, the current adviser to the Red Bull teamwho usually stands out for his enormous ability to find new talents, as well as making statements out of place before the microphones.
Did Helmut Marko have a future in Formula 1?
Helmut Marko was born on April 27, 1943, in Graz, Austria, and He was part of a generation of successful pilots in his country, along with the aforementioned Jochen Rindt and like many young pilots, before reaching Formula 1 he had to shine in other serials.
He was not always the serious and even cruel man that we know now as an advisor to the Red Bull team, as well was a fierce driver who won the 24 hours of LeMans in 1971, together with the Dutchman Gijs van Lennep, and in that same year he began his career in Formula 1.
Marko debuted with the Yardley BMR teamwith which he competed in four Grand Prix, in which he could not go beyond the first 10 places, but he had the wood to achieve better results, for which He went to the Austria BMR team, which was the continuation of the same team for 1972.
In that year he took part in five races, of which his best result was obtained in Monaco, where he finished eighth and his luck changed two races later, in Monaco.
The accident that ended Helmut Marko’s career
On July 2, 1972, Helmut Marko was chasing a Formula 1 legend, the Brazilian Emerson Fitipladiwho was driving for Lotus and in that pursuit, the South American’s car fired a stone that hit and broke the visor of Helmut’s helmet, and consequently, the stone hit the left eye of the Austrian, who at that time he was 29 years old.
Faced with such a situation, Helmut underwent an emergency operation, and lost the vision in his left eye. In the surgery they sewed the inside of the eyelid, which is why he remembers that every blink was a horror.
The loss of his left eye meant the end of his career, for which he fell into a depression, which he describes as a deep black hole. “I couldn’t sleep for a long time because I thought that motoring was the only reason to live. On one of those sleepless nights I had to confess to myself: it’s over, I’ll have to do something else with my life. That’s when you fall into a deep black hole.” remember.
The Helmut Marko we know today
After overcoming that depression and convincing himself that he would never compete in motorsports as a driver again, Marko began a new path as a talent scout and as a owner of the RSM Marko team in Formula 3000 and in 1999 he became part of Red Bull, who joined his team as more than just a sponsor; the team was renamed the Red Bull Junior Team.
Hence his good nose for identifying young talents with a future in motorsports, especially in Formula 1, where nowadays it is an inevitable, controversial and controversial figure.
