Key won't be replaced at Toro Rosso
- Published on 04 Jan 2019 12:12
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- By: Fergal Walsh
Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko has confirmed that James Key will not be replaced at the team when he leaves to join McLaren. The technical director penned a deal with the Woking outfit last year, however it is not known what date he will link up with his new team.
However, Toro Rosso will not bring in a replacement, as the Toro Rosso design will be heavily influenced by its parent team, Red Bull Racing: "We can’t have almost the same technical team in Faenza as in Milton Keynes in terms of the number of people,” Marko told Autosport.
“The concepts were worked out. These concepts [more Toro Rosso reliance on Red Bull] have not been fully implemented to this day. One factor was that James Key was not so happy with them. All in all, the solution we wanted is finally there. And it was easier without James Key.
“The position will not be filled. The technical director, in this sense, is no longer necessary because the concept [for the car] comes from Red Bull Racing," Marko added.
Both teams will run with Honda engines in 2019, following the success of Toro Rosso's campaign with the Japanese manufacturer in 2019. Toro Rosso's concept of taking on parts from Red Bull stems from the push for keeping costs down.
“The concept is no longer a secret: Toro Rosso has received three trucks full of parts and will take over many parts of the 2018 car from Red Bull Racing, as far as the regulations allow,” said Marko.
“The whole thing was made easier by the whole engine question. The complete rear end is from us, everything that is permitted according to the regulations. This gives us a small advantage on the cost side.”
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Replies (11)
Login to replyboudy
Posts: 1,168
That Toro Rosso will be a good place to start your F1 career. Kudos to Redbull.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Way to toss Key into the sea, Marko. Class act as usual. Yet there are probably some degree of truth in it. Some.
ajpennypacker
Posts: 2,475
Toro Rosso and Red Bull are so mad about the Key departure. They are done fighting it, now they're are understating the impact. But did anybody else notice this shameful statement?
“The position will not be filled. The technical director, in this sense, is no longer necessary because the concept [for the car] comes from Red Bull Racing,"
I mean damn... I guess you have to respect the shamelessness. But come on...
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Of course, that specific bit was what, as the net loves to say, "triggered" me. This is just Red Bull saving face in the way they love to do it: throwing shit around them. A trait they seem to have picked up from Jaques Villeneuve.. Although Marko's and Horner's own shitflinging merits are not to be discredited.
2GRX7
Posts: 108
WOW! That Dr. Marko is a "DDDDD" ick! First, he gets mad at McLaren for announcing he'd be joining the team a year before Key's start date, claiming you'll block it, and now he's blowing him off like he knew they were going to get rid of him anyway and throwing serious SHADE!
Look Dr. Marko, you knew the writing was on the wall-you were going to pull a Ferrari/HAAS with the Rosso, and you couldn't let one of the top F1 designers roll out with some respect? SMH!!!
You just keep giving me evidence of your desire to wheel power-yet everyone knows you have the ear of ONE man and that's Mateschitz! No other team would have you if he let you go.
What a weak man!
Hombibi
Posts: 137
Why are you guys getting so upset here? I see little wrong in the snippets taken from an interview. “It was easier (to implement the concept we alway wanted) without Key.” Nothing wrong with that as far as I am concerned. “The technical director in this sense is not needed any longer.” Nothing wrong with that either, the car is being designed by RB and as much as possible copied from the RB design. Obviously they don’t need Key in this approach. I’d say kudos to RB for postponing this organisational setup to accommodate Keys views and input while a more efficient strategy had been available already for some time... Aren’t you guys being over sensitive here?
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
It looks neutral at first, until you realize that this is basically Marko taking his toys as soon as he dont get as he want and shouts "I let you win!". The gist of this is "fine, you can have Key, we dont need him anyway. Its RB trying to save face when its clear they simply lost Key, a... uhuh... key member of their STR project. This is the way RB thank people who have laid a groundstone for their operations.
Hombibi
Posts: 137
Calle that’s all projection and speculation! That way we can read everything and noting from any snippet of text: Don’t even need any context any longer either, we’ll just make it up as we go along. And of course we’ll present opinions as facts, first rule..
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
Except it isnt. You can pretty clearly read it from the way RB has talked about these things before, and from the fact that its quite literally there. Yes, they will base much of their 2019 design from the RB chassis, but so could they do earlier too, with Key on board. I never said that this is an objective fact, as you might've noticed, but there is no denying that it stinks of "the Marko". Just read the stuff he said when first Vettel, and now Ricciardo and Key left.
Hombibi
Posts: 137
I can’t relate to your insinuation. Looking at all comments by RB about Ricciardo leaving, not one bad word even though RB was clearly unpleasantly surprised. Look at how they parted on the last day. Surely this does not at all reflect the sentiments voiced here.
2GRX7
Posts: 108
Hombibi, if you go back and look at the timeline, you'll see that Brown of McLaren announced James Key back in July (26th). The very next day, Marko's barking about not letting him go! Really. Did you just want to throw shade at McLaren's announcement at the track (Hungry) to save face and the embarrassment of someone actually wanting to leave Red Bull? OR, is it being butt-hurt finding out in the papers that ole' Lando Norris wasn't going to go to T.R. to replace Hartley? Spiteful stuff.
The main reason Key wanted out of his contract back then ((june/July) is because the decision to go with Honda had been made-the difference in Honda/Renault engine architecture is too different to put off the decision any longer. The writing was on the wall: to increase synergism amongst the teams for 2019.
All this is to really highlight Marko knowing that one of F1's most talented designers would have nothing to design for the rest of the year, let alone any future cars! So what, are you going to keep a man in a contract for the next 3.5yrs where he cannot do what he was hired to do? Just out of spite? If the E.U. got a hold of this, R.B. would have a serous lawsuit on their hands.
Yeah, so none of the preceding comments are based on projection and speculation. Extrapolation from Marko's previous quotes give me context, leading to this summation. My question to you, Hombibi is what are you using as context for Marko's responses?