Even though Mark Webber is not my favourite... this Marko is an IDIOT! What the hell is he doing deciding other Driver's career retirement.

A decision on retirement should solely be in the hands of the driver... not some fool acting smart. And calling Webber 'that other Australian' shows real lack of respect for a driver working under their company. Webber needs to snub this a$$ somehow...


http://sweetf1.blogspot.com/2011/07/dr-mar...re-in-2012.html
Dr MARKO: Mark Webber Will Retire in 2012
Sunday, July 31, 2011

IN an interview with Australian sports Channel OneHD Dr Helmet Marko said Webber "will retire in 2012".
He was being interviewed about the progress of fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo.

He told the interviewer: "The other Australian will retire in 2012. We're looking for someone to replace him."

This is the first solid indication that Mark Webber has just one season left in him at Red Bull.
Dumbstruck, the presenters Greg Rust and his off-siders struggled to make sense of the breaking news.
We'll try to source the interview and post it here at SweetF1.

SweetF1 wonders whether Mark knows...
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hopefully as a world champion

To be honest, the end of 2012 is about the right time for him to move on, I don't think he's suddenly going to improve now.

Since Turkey last season, nobody should care about what Marko has to say. Why people quote him, source him or get wound up by him is beyond me.

What does retire in 2012 mean? Will he take part in 2012 season and then retire, or it is Webber's new year's resolution to retire before the 2012 season?

Looks good for a 64 year old.

Even I think Webber should call it a day soon.... but thats the point!

Webber himself should be calling it a day... not some idiot doing it for him. Webber has been in F1 long time to decide his own fate.

That Marko guy is really disgusting judging by his interviews. Total lack of respect.

It's called controversy. At this current juncture, the other Australian is not doing a stellar job in a HRT.

I don't see why Webber would want to retire after next year, leave RB maybe... perhaps to replace Massa and join his friend Alonso in a red car but retire? I hope not. But then this is Marko so anything he says about anyone but Vettel is probably rubbish anyway.

Webber is putting in a dire performance this season, only one 2nd place, compared to Seb's outstanding run.

Marko has every right to criticise.

Didn't Marko do something similar when DC decided to retire?

I can't say I am overly surprised by Webber's decision (if that is the case) but Marko is a tool (and quite a blunt one).

As an aside, I can't see that either of the STR drivers (or Ricciardo) is good enough for the seat to speculation will be rife now.

I think Red Bull need to get rid of this spare part Marko because he keeps trampling over everyone running the team has said.

If he thinks he's going to get Ricciardo waltzing into Red Bull with no experience whatsoever then he's living in cuckoo land, but I suppose he's under pressure to prove that the Red Bull driver programme is delivering anything.

If Marko has said that now then his 2012 season doesn't mean anything anyway if he has one. This guy is a twat.

Probably Mark told the team and Marko is spilling the beans, he is an idiot, Mark is the one who should announce his retirement.

It wouldn't surprise me if Webber's time is up. Does anyone have a link to that interview? The look on Rust's face must've been gold he's such a prat.

Every indication has been that he is continuing.

These have come from Horner, from Mateschitz, and from Mark himself.

Where he is continuing is unknown as yet, but the fact remains he is set upon continuing.


Marko can go shove it where the sun don't shine. I'd love to see Mark win a championship just to watch Marko choke on his own bile.

Can't see too much wrong in what Marko says. It's basically confirming that Red Bull will not be retaining Mark's services after 2012.
Red Bull probably has decided that in 2013 a driver from their young drivers program for which Marko is responsible should step up to the first team.

What Webber does after 2012 is no concern of Helmut Marko I guess.

Marko did the exact same thing to David Coulthard. I read about it in DC's autobiography, DC was mighty angry about having his retirement news leaked that way. Marko really is a #$%£.

Webber has said he thinks he has a few good years left in him, which I think is probably true. Whilst he hasn't won this year he is second in the championship even though Red Bull have only won 1 out of the last 5 races. Given that he copped so many reliability issues at the start of the year this is pretty solid. He has been Mr Consistency this year, and has eliminated a lot of the over-driving that used to plague him. I actually think he's the perfect #2 for a top team at the moment (not that he wants to be that). It would have been a 2nd & 3rd again today for RBR but for the inters stop for Mark.

I suspect what this means is that indeed Webber has signed on with RBR for 2012, but it is explicit that he won't be with them in 2013 due to the pressure from below (Buemi, Ricciardo etc), whether that means retirement for Mark is uncertain.

If that were the case then you would just announce that Webber has re-signed for a year and say nothing about retirement.

unless he is going to be an ambassador like Coulthard. So not racing F1 but still involved with the team

Don´t talk to our member called "Hole" about this. I´ve did it in the Ricciardo tread and he say that I lie.

exactly. webber is a crap #2 driver. can't keep the macs between him and vettel. cant come near vettel on a normal day. on the chance he is close, he almost takes him out trying to get past and make the point he's not done yet. but his career is over. he will NEVER be world champion and he cannot and will not EVER beat seb. he should be happy he even gets to drive that car but if was his boss his ass would be out of that car at the end of the year for the way he has acted this year and last. not a team player

Lewis to redbull lol

I think Hamilton has made a bad mistake. And I´m not talking about tyre choice today

What a idiotic comment, he has never come close to taking out Seb trying to get past him. WTF are you on about?? On the contrary, Seb did exactly that last year.

Webber would most likely retire end of 2012 or 13, I don't see him hanging around for when the new regulations kick in.

To be fair the team hasn't exactly been playing the team game either.

He's not crap, but the differences when the cars have got closer together in performance are stark.

Is this in his contract and confirmed by RBR management, or you are making this up?

I think this is for Webber to say and indeed, still is. I put no credence in a statement like this from Marko (although, unlike some, I have respect for Marko), because Webber will ultimately decide what he will do. Also, Marko may or may not be speaking factually from RBR's standpoint.

From my perspective, it is all a part of a longstanding game - that grows more boring by the year (aye, it is as close to complete boredom as you can get, really). Consider: Mark hasn't exactly come out to discount the rumors about joining Ferrari, Renault or other teams for 2011 and beyond - and so RBR counters with cryptic retirement chatter and taking its sweet time in denying Kimi and other driver rumors. I suppose it is all a part of the negotiation process, but from a PR standpoint, it doesn't look very good on either of them. I don't suppose anyone cares though, seeing as it has been going on for years and continues to go on... In a nutshell: Yawn.

well there are two drivers in the team. one is world champion and kicking the others ass all over the place. one is current champion and leading the WDC by a good margin. thrashing his teammate in races and qualifying with some of the largest gaps in the field between teammates. maybe you think they are both #1?? be realistic mark will NEVER be a world champion period. are you suggesting mark is #1? or maybe they are equal? accept reality. he is the #2 at red bull whether he likes it or not.

"If u look on the website onehd they normally post there videos there aswell. I will look tomorrow and see if i can link it for you all that are overseas" said my aussie friend.
If so...I link it to you if you like ?

wow really? are we talking about the same team here? the team where the #2 driver has been quicker over the past 3 races? maybe it is you who cannot accept reality.

Personally, I think Horner and many RBR team members would like to marginalise Markko, and this seems like a decent way of doing it if everyone stays quiet.

Marko is an idiot. Its like there's some knid of bromance going on between him and Vettel...

I hope Lewis didn't sign with those jokers.

3 races? must have missed 2 races then?????


Webber isn't crap. He gambled on inters, otherwise he would have been 3rd behind Vettel, not bad after his bad start. However. with the growing threath of both Ferrari and McLaren it would be nice if he was able to run a bit more interference than the first half of the year.

If Webber (or any other driver) wants to retire, I think it’s his right to say it self.

But there’s something I don’t understand. If Webber is going to retire at the end of 2012, why is Red Bull supposed to be searching for somebody yet? If they really want to take a driver from their program, the only thing they need is to keep an eye on their young drivers for the rest of this season and all next season and then take a decision.

Or did I misunderstand what "looking for" means there?

I think that's the real problem here. What does "retiring in 2012" mean exactly? Is it retire at the end of the next year, or his retirement begins in 2012 - meaning he won't drive after this season?

Has somebody concluded what Marko really thought?

Vettel agrees. From the Post Race Presser:



In truth, Mark's co-driver and team think quite highly of him as a driver, imo. In light of that, what those on the outside think isn't really important.

Marko should STFU.

He did the same thing to David Coulthard.

He is THE complete fuckwit.

I have a feeling that Horner and the people running RBR would like him to ****off. Politically it's a nightmare. You've got the team's view on something and then you've got this arsehole wandering around saying whatever he wants. If there's one thing about Red Bull that I think could sink them it's Marko as a mouthpiece.

Not to mention that he's also under pressure to show results from this non-existent young driver programme.

Helmut Marko is a total jerk.

the thing with Helmut Marko is that he compares every driver, inluding the ones driving for Toro Rosso or in the Red Bull Driver Development Program, with Sebastian Vettel and that is a very steep and extremely high standard to be compared with.

Make a list of problems that have befallen the RBR team - faulty KERS, DRS, etc, and then work out how many times it has happened to each driver. How many times longer do you want to bet the Webber list is longer than Sebastian Vettel's? I'm going to say at least twice as long, possibly three times.

There's no room for driver biases when talking about an issue like this.

Whether Mark is retiring or not, it is not Helmut Marko's job or his place to make this announcement for Webber. It is Mark's career, and it is his decision when (and IF) he wants to announce such a thing. To act like this is unbelievably classless, and does not garner much respect, I feel.

This is like telling your co-worker that you're planning on asking your girlfriend to marry you. Then when you get home, you find that he's already told her your entire plan and how you were going to do it. It's not his business.

Im a little confused to what "retiring in 2012" means.2012 is webbers last season? or 2011 is his last season?

I can see that you understand the concept of confidentiality and respect for employees - Remind me not to come and work for you anytime soon...

It means retirement after this season.

Wouldnt that mean he was retiring in 2011?