'A complete misjudgement' - Red Bull's Helmut Marko regrets tipping off Mercedes about Lewis Hamilton
The Red Bull motorsport advisor has revealed he passed on key information to old friend and then Mercedes non-executive chairman 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Niki Lauda that Hamilton could be poac♏hed from McLaren at ♋the end of the 2012 season.
Three-time world champion Lauda held talks with Hamilton🌊 throughout the year and ultimately convinced the Br𒀰iton to make the switch to Mercedes for the following season.
Marko said he made the suggestion to Lauda becauseജ he believed Hamilton would be “less of a threat to us at Mercedes”, but 🃏the 79-year-old Austrian has now conceded he made an error.
"I gave him [Lauda] some information that Lewis would be available,” Marko told 🦹Bild, via The Mirror.
"Of course🌠 I was not being altruistic. At the time, we thought Lewis would be less of a threat to us at Mercedes than at McLaren, for whom he was driving at the time.
"In retrospect, that was a complete misjudgement, although at the time it was really not foreseeable. But with the knowledge I have today, I would definitely not do that again𓄧.”
Following a sustaine🧔d period of Red Bull success that culminated i🎃n a fourth consecutive world title for Sebastian Vettel, Mercedes would go on to dominate much of the V6 hybrid era which began in 2014.
Hamilton has won six of his seven world championships with Mercedes🍸 on his way to becoming F1's most decorated driver of all time.
Red Bull have since capitalised on a regulation reset to begin another spell of dominance, with 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:Max Verstappen already well on course to win his third ♎straig🔯ht world title in 2023.
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix🌠 for ltxcn.top around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of thꦜe people who matter in the sport.
