Helmut Marko gives personal assignment to Red Bull star looking to reach F1

Rather than on-track work, Red Bull junior Ayumu Iwasa has been tasked by Helmut Marko with improving his social media presence.

Japanese racer Iwasa has been part of the Red Bull Junior Team since 2021 and has put himself in the conversation to be considered for an F1 2025 seat at junior team VCARB, having followed-up on his two years in F2 – which yielded a combined five race wins – by making the podium three times in his first Super Formula campaign, finishing P5 in the standings.

Red Bull protégé Ayumu Iwasa given social media homework

The Red Bull driver programme is overseen by the notoriously demanding Helmut Marko, though it is not Iwasa’s work on the track which Marko has told him needs attention.

Instead, Marko wants to see an improvement off the track in how Iwasa markets himself after spending time back in his native Japan in Super Formula.

“I have organised two events this year and am more present on my social media,” Iwasa explained to Motorsport.com.

“When I was driving in F2, I could hardly use social media because I was driving overseas. And to be honest, I didn’t have time for it then either.

“If you want to get into F1, it becomes more and more important to have a fan base, be recognised and manage your social media well. I see that happening before my eyes and that is one of the tasks Red Bull has given me.

“When I talked to Red Bull, and specifically Helmut, about going to Super Formula, he told me: ‘Now that you are driving in Japan, use that time to increase your recognisability and your fan base. If you managed to do that, try it in F1′.”

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Giving rookies a chance is back in fashion again in F1, with the likes of Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman turning heads in F1 2024, while Mercedes has given their teenage sensation Kimi Antonelli the nod as their 2025 replacement for seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton, who will head to Ferrari.

And opportunity may knock for Iwasa looking ahead to next season, with neither the Red Bull or VCARB F1 2025 line-ups seemingly set in stone.

Sergio Perez has suffered a difficult season alongside Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen, creating long-running speculation about a potential exit, and Marko told ORF that if Red Bull did decide to replace Perez for next season, he would like Verstappen paired “ideally with someone from our junior program [next to him].”

“Youth is the trend again,” he continued.

“What we used to do, is now being done by Mercedes with Antonelli, Haas with Bearman, and I also hope that Colapinto will end up somewhere. He was thrown in at the deep end [by Williams] and has delivered three great races.”

Yuki Tsunoda is assigned to VCARB for F1 2025, with Liam Lawson seeing out the current season alongside the Japanese racer as he bids to secure a place on next season’s grid with one of the Red Bull teams.

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