Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes said Helmut Marko playfully described him as “mega in karting, but it didn’t translate to cars.”

Oakes arrived on the grid as Alpine team boss last season, having been a former Red Bull junior himself and a World Champion in karting in 2005, beating the likes of Valtteri Bottas to the title that season.

Helmut Marko issues ‘mega in karting’ verdict to Alpine team principal

Oakes eventually ended his driving career and switched to team ownership, beginning his own karting outfit before taking on leadership of Hitech GP, as he would see young talents rise through the motorsport ladder.

Oakes, who became the youngest current team principal on the grid when he took on the top job at Alpine aged only 36, revealed Marko kept in touch after he left the Red Bull programme, and looked to him to help identify other young drivers making their way through the ranks.

The Briton has had the likes of Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar race for him at Hitech in the past, though he had his own success in motorsport before switching to a management role.

When asked if karting is a good barometer of talent on the Beyond the Grid podcast, Oakes replied with a smile: “Well, what did Helmut say to me? I was ‘mega in karting, but it didn’t translate to cars.’ So maybe I’m a case in point.”

He then clarified: “No, I think it is [a good barometer]. At the end of the day, if I really want to be critical to my own career, I had a really good first year from karting to cars.

“After I won the [karting] worlds, I did the Red Bull sort of shootout. I joined them, I think I was in the Red Bull Academy for two years, [drove in] Formula BMW, Formula Renault.

“I had a tough season in my second year in Formula Renault Eurocup, and then I guess after that was sort of where it gets difficult, because I then was sort of dropped by Helmut.”

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Marko has developed a reputation of being a hard taskmaster over time when it comes to junior drivers, with the Red Bull senior advisor having overseen the pool of talent that has risen to the Formula 1 grid throughout the company’s involvement in Formula 1.

When asked if that tough reputation was warranted, Oakes believes “hard but fair” is a better way of explaining Marko’s way of working, and even took on a role searching for junior talent himself after leaving the Red Bull programme.

“I mean, on a personal level, he’s been really good to me over the years,” he explained.

“It’s slightly odd that I was a junior driver with him, then he sort of asked me to go and help him scout some young talents, and then some of them would drive in my team.

“And then now, I dare say, he’s given me some good advice. I’d say he’s got a bit softer – he might hate me saying that publicly – but Helmut was always, I’d say, hard but fair.”

Having been a World Champion in karting, the Alpine team principal admitted that drivers can see their karting days as being among the best of their career, racing without as much pressure and enjoying themselves.

He took much more than the title away from him, however.

“I look back at that now, and you sort of think, ‘God, you know, they were great times’, but to be World Karting Champion obviously gets talked about a lot now because I’m in this role, and that’s an accolade I am hugely proud of,” he said.

“But also, I wouldn’t say that was my favourite moment back in karting. I genuinely think it was the tracks you were going to, some of the great races and the friends you made as well along that.”

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