This is how consultations with Helmut Marko go: 'Whatsapp, he doesn't have that'

MP Motorsport had a great season in Formula 2 in 2022. Felipe Drugovich captured the drivers' title and MP was also the teams' champion. In Dennis Hauger, the Dutch team has a Red Bull Junior Team talent within its F2 ranks this year. This makes the Norwegian an instant favourite for the title.

As many as six drivers from the Red Bull Junior Team will be competing in the class just below Formula 1 next season. Driving force of the academy - as with the Red Bull Racing team in Formula 1 - is Helmut Marko. So in order to secure Hauger, MP Motorsport had to talk to the Austrian.

Fitting into the plans

Team manager Sander Dorsman has maintained good contacts with Marko for years. He explains to GPblog how a driver from an F1 academy- as in this case from Red Bull - ends up at his team. "Sometimes Marko contacts us, sometimes the other way round," Dorsman says. "We sometimes see that a Red Bull driver would fit our plans perfectly. In Hauger's case, it also came - funnily enough - from himself. He really saw us as option 1, he really wanted to go to MP Motorsport. So yes, on the paddock, contact was made with him and his manager. If Hauger then says to Helmut: 'I would prefer to go to that team' AND we are also interested, then things move quickly."

With a Red Bull junior within the ranks, Dorsman is in regular contact with Marko throughout the season. "With all juniors he (Marko) is 100 per cent engaged. Whether they drive in Formula 4 or F2, it doesn't matter. Incomprehensible yes, where he gets the time from?" grins Dorsman.

Text message

Henk de Jong, owner of MP Motorsport, hooks up: "But he (Marko) is gruff, mind you!" laughs the entrepreneur, pretending to answer a phone. "It's blab blab blab, and then he hangs up again." Dorsman continues: "Whatsapp, he doesn't have that. A text message will do."