Former F1 driver Karl Wendlinger has claimed Helmut Marko once threatened to sack him via his mum.
The 81-year-old Red Bull supremo, known for his toughened approach, apparently didn't shield Wendlinger or his mum from his stern methods. Wendlinger - who raced for Sauber, March and Leyton House over five seasons in F1 - was climbing the ranks in Austria when Marko was establishing his own reputation at the time.
Marko pushed Wendlinger, 55, hard both on and off the track before he got his chance in the big leagues. And Wendlinger recounted one particular incident where his attempt to dodge training left him with no doubt about whom he was dealing with.
"There was one thing: they were all afraid when he's calling," Wendlinger reminisced during a recent appearance on Beyond the Grid (via the Express). "The workshop was in Graz [Austria], it's around three-and-a-half hours driving from my home in Kufstein.
"Quite often on a Sunday afternoon, the telephone would ring. Mobile phones [didn't exist] at this time - it was a home phone - and Helmut was on the other end: 'Okay Karl, tomorrow 9 o'clock workshop [in] Graz.' And I'd ask, 'Why? ' And he'd reply, 'Because we have some work to do there.'"
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Wendlinger was far from thrilled about the prospect of waking up in the early hours of Monday morning to make the journey. So, he hatched a plan to dodge Marko's schemes - although it didn't do him much good.
"[I thought] 'When he calls again, I'll have to do this trip to Graz again,'" the retired star confessed. "I said to my mother, 'Sunday afternoon when Mr Marko calls, say I'm not at home.' I wasn't at home; Okay, I didn't have to go to Graz on Monday.
Wendlinger ascended the ranks in Austria under Marko's management (Pascal Rondeau/Getty Images)"I think he did this two or three times and the third time, he said, 'Okay, Mrs Wendlinger. Tell your son if he's not available again next Sunday, his season is over.' Then I was back in Graz."
The hard graft eventually paid dividends, and those early Monday morning drives to Graz were finally replaced with post-race debriefs as a fully-fledged F1 driver. Wendlinger made his debut in the final race of the 1991 season before securing a start with March the following year, though his greatest triumphs were achieved while racing for Sauber.
He secured four top-10 finishes during the 1993 campaign and showed significant potential early in 1994 before a career-changing crash at Monaco that year. A collision in practice left Wendlinger in a coma for weeks and ended his season, while he only made one more start before his days in F1 were done.
The Austrian continued his career in other racing promotions, clinching his team's classification in consecutive Le Mans editions (1999-2000). Marko, on the other hand, leads the highly successful Red Bull driver development programme and continues to play a significant role in Red Bull's F1 operations today.
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