Dr. Helmut Marko is a former racing driver from Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

.

A friend of Jochen Rindt

Jochen Rindt

Karl Jochen Rindt was a German racing driver who represented Austria during his career. He is the only driver to posthumously win the Formula One World Drivers' Championship , after being killed in practice for the Italian Grand Prix...

, he entered racing, and eventually participated in 10 Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 World Championship Grands Prix, debuting on 15 August 1971. He scored no championship points.

However, he had more success in endurance racing, winning the 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans

1971 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 1971 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 39th Grand Prix of Endurance, and took place on 12 and 13 June 1971. It was the ninth round of the World Sportscar Championship.-Pre-race:...

, driving a Martini

Martini Racing

Martini Racing is the name under which various motor racing teams raced when sponsored by the Martini & Rossi distillery that produces Martini vermouth. Martini's sponsorship program began in 1968...

-Porsche 917

Porsche 917

The Porsche 917 is a racecar that gave Porsche its first overall wins at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1970 and 1971. Powered by the Type 912 flat-12 engine of 4.5, 4.9, or 5 litres, the 917/30 variant was capable of a 0- time of 2.3 seconds, 0– in 5.3 seconds, and a top speed of over .There are 6...

K with Gijs van Lennep

Gijs van Lennep

Jonkheer Gijsbert van Lennep is a Dutch esquire and former racing driver who gave a good account for himself in his eight Formula One drives.- Career :...

. During that year, they set a distance record which remained unbeaten until the 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans

2010 24 Hours of Le Mans

The 2010 24 Hours of Le Mans was the 78th running of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, also known as the Grand Prix of Endurance. The race took place on 12–13 June 2010 at the Circuit de la Sarthe, Le Mans, France, and was organised by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest . Fifty-six cars participated in the...

 (5,335.313 km, at an average of 222.304 km/h).

Despite being concerned about the lack of safety at the Targa Florio

Targa Florio

The Targa Florio was an open road endurance automobile race held in the mountains of Sicily near Palermo. Founded in 1906, it was the oldest sports car racing event, part of the World Sportscar Championship between 1955 and 1973...

, he drove the fastest laps around the mountains of Sicily in order to catch up several minutes, eventually losing by mere seconds. On 21 May 1972, Helmut Marko set the all-time race lap record of the 72 km event in an Alfa Romeo 33 at 33 min 41 sec, at an average of 128.253 km/h.

A few weeks later on 2 July, during the 1972 French Grand Prix

1972 French Grand Prix

The 1972 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Charade Circuit on July 2, 1972.Due to cutting the corners, a stone thrown from Emerson Fittipaldi's Lotus hit Helmut Marko in the eye during the 1972 French Grand Prix, ending his F1 career. The stones also had caused ten deflated tyres,...

, a stone thrown from Emerson Fittipaldi

Emerson Fittipaldi

Emerson Fittipaldi |São Paulo]], Brazil) is a Brazilian automobile racing driver who throughout a long and successful career won the Indianapolis 500 twice and championships in both Formula One and CART.-Early and personal life:...

's Lotus

Team Lotus

Team Lotus was the motorsport sister company of English sports car manufacturer Lotus Cars. The team ran cars in many motorsport series including Formula One, Formula Two, Formula Ford, Formula Junior, IndyCar and sports car racing...

 pierced through Marko's helmet visor and hit him in the eye, leaving him partially blind and ending his racing career.

Marko is also a barrister

Barrister

A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...

, and opened two hotels in Graz

Graz

The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...

 – "Schlossberghotel" and "Augartenhotel art&design" – after his racing career ended. Later, he returned to motor sport to become a manager for Gerhard Berger

Gerhard Berger

Gerhard Berger, is an Austrian former Formula One racing driver, who previously owned 50% of the Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One team until he sold his share back to energy drink owner Dietrich Mateschitz in November 2008....

 and Karl Wendlinger

Karl Wendlinger

Karl Wendlinger is an Austrian sportscar racing and former Formula One driver.- Mercedes Juniors :Wendlinger started his career in karting and in Formula Ford before entering the German Formula 3 Championship in 1988...

, before running his own Formula 3 and Formula 3000 team, RSM Marko. Since 2005 he has been involved with the Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 Red Bull Racing

Red Bull Racing

Red Bull Racing is a Formula One racing team based in Milton Keynes, England which currently holds an Austrian licence. It is, along with Scuderia Toro Rosso, one of two teams owned by beverage company Red Bull GmbH. The team have won two Constructors' Championship titles, in and , becoming the...

 Team after being initially in charge of the Red Bull

Red Bull

Red Bull is an energy drink sold by the Austrian Red Bull GmbH, created in 1987 by the Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz. In terms of market share, Red Bull is the most popular energy drink in the world, with 3 billion cans sold each year. Dietrich Mateschitz was inspired by an already...

 driver training programme where one of the participating drivers was Juan Pablo Montoya

Juan Pablo Montoya

Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán is a Colombian race car driver known internationally for participating and winning in Formula One and CART race competitions. He has enjoyed great success. Currently, he competes in NASCAR, driving the #42 Target Chevrolet Impala for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing in the Sprint...

In July, following the 2010 British Grand Prix

2010 British Grand Prix

The 2010 British Grand Prix was the tenth race of the 2010 Formula One season. On 7 December 2009, it was confirmed that the race would take place at Silverstone for the next seventeen years after the failure of Donington Park to raise the necessary funds to hold the race...

, when a new spec front wing was taken off Mark Webber

Mark Webber

Mark Alan Webber is an Australian Formula One driver.After some racing success in Australia, Webber moved to the United Kingdom in 1995 to further his motorsport career...

's car and placed on Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel is a German Formula One racing driver, currently driving for Red Bull Racing. He is the current World Champion, having won the championship in and ....

's car after a failure, the press were asking questions on team orders. Marko stated that the wing was put on Vettel's because he was ahead in championship points. He then addressed the idea of some kind of conspiracy against Webber at Red Bull as being absurd, and that with far more mechanical failures on Vettel's car during that same season, that Vettel had much more of a reason to feel there was a conspiracy against him.

Complete Formula One World Championship results

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	WDC	Points
1971 1971 Formula One season The 1971 Formula One season included the 22nd FIA Formula One World Championship season, which commenced on March 6, 1971, and ended on October 3 after eleven races.-Season summary:...	Ecurie Bonnier Ecurie Bonnier Ecurie Bonnier, Ecurie Suisse, Joakim Bonnier Racing Team and Anglo-Suisse Racing Team were names used by Swedish racing driver Joakim Bonnier to enter his own cars in Formula One , Formula Two and sports car racing between 1957 and his death in 1972...	McLaren M7C McLaren M7A The McLaren M7A and its M7B, M7C and M7D variants were Formula One racing cars, built by McLaren and used in the world championship between 1968 and 1971...	Cosworth Cosworth Cosworth is a high performance engineering company founded in London in 1958, specialising in engines and electronics for automobile racing , mainstream automotive and defence industries...  V8	RSA 1971 South African Grand Prix The 1971 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Kyalami Circuit on March 6, 1971. The race, which was the first round of the 1971 Formula One season, was won by Mario Andretti who was driving for the Ferrari team.-Report:...	ESP 1971 Spanish Grand Prix The 1971 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at the Montjuïc circuit on April 18, 1971. It was the second round of the 1971 Formula One season....	MON 1971 Monaco Grand Prix The 1971 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Monaco on May 23, 1971.- Race report :Qualifying was extremely wet and so it was Friday morning times that really counted for the grid - for Mario Andretti this was particularly unfortunate as his car was stranded out on the track at this...	NED 1971 Dutch Grand Prix The 1971 Dutch Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Zandvoort on June 20, 1971. Due to heavy rain, the track was treacherously wet and slippery, giving a large advantage to "wet-weather men" Ickx and Rodriguez, who also happened to be equipped with highly suitable cars and...	FRA 1971 French Grand Prix The 1971 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at the Circuit Paul Ricard on 4 July 1971.- Race report :The race was taking place for the first time at the brand new Paul Ricard circuit in the mountains outside Marseille. Jackie Stewart gained pole position - helped by extensive tyre...	GBR 1971 British Grand Prix The 1971 British Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Silverstone on July 17, 1971.- Race report :On one of the fastest circuits on the calendar, horsepower counted for everything...	GER 1971 German Grand Prix The 1971 German Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Nürburgring on 1 August 1971.The race returned to the Nürburgring after a year at the Hockenheimring after the safety was improved on the track. The race distance was shortened to 12 laps. Notable driver changes included Vic Elford, who... DNS						NC	0
	Yardley-BRM	BRM P153 BRM P153 The BRM P153 was a Formula One racing car which raced in the , and 1972 Formula One seasons. It was powered by a 3.0 litre V12 engine. Its best result was a victory at the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix.-References:...	BRM V12 V12 engine A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....								AUT 1971 Austrian Grand Prix The 1971 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Österreichring on August 15, 1971.- Race report :Jo Siffert took a surprise pole position from Jackie Stewart and led away at the start from Clay Regazzoni and Jacky Ickx. The front two drew away from the pack, where Regazzoni was duelling... 11	ITA 1971 Italian Grand Prix The 1971 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Monza on September 5, 1971. This race is often referred to as the fastest Formula One race of all time, with a record average speed of 242.615 km/h , a record that was not broken until 32 years later at the 2003 Italian Grand Prix at... Ret	CAN 1971 Canadian Grand Prix The 1971 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Mosport Park on September 19, 1971. Jackie Stewart took the win in the awful conditions and the race was stopped after 64 laps due to the weather... 12
		BRM P160 BRM P160 The BRM P160 was a Formula One racing car which raced in the 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974 Formula One seasons. It was powered by a 3.0 litre V12 engine....												USA 1971 United States Grand Prix The 1971 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on October 3, 1971 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York.__FORCETOC__-Summary:... 13
1972 1972 Formula One season The 1972 Formula One season was the 23rd FIA Formula One season. It featured the 23rd World Championship of Drivers, the 15th International Cup for F1 Manufacturers and numerous non-championship Formula One races. The World Championship season commenced on January 23 and ended on October 8 after...	Austria-Marlboro BRM	BRM P153 BRM P153 The BRM P153 was a Formula One racing car which raced in the , and 1972 Formula One seasons. It was powered by a 3.0 litre V12 engine. Its best result was a victory at the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix.-References:...	BRM V12 V12 engine A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft....	ARG 1972 Argentine Grand Prix The 1972 Argentine Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at the Autódromo Oscar Alfredo Gálvez on January 23, 1972.- Classification :- Notes :* Pole Position: Carlos Reutemann - 1:12.6* Fastest lap: Jackie Stewart - 1:13.66... 10	RSA 1972 South African Grand Prix The 1972 South African Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Kyalami on March 4, 1972.- Classification :-Standings after the race:Drivers' Championship standingsConstructors' Championship standings... 14	ESP 1972 Spanish Grand Prix The 1972 Spanish Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Jarama on May 1, 1972.- Classification :- Notes :* Pole Position: Jacky Ickx - 1:18.43* Fastest Lap: Jacky Ickx - 1:21.01* Last Race: Alex Soler-Roig-Standings after the race:...										NC	0
		BRM P153B BRM P153 The BRM P153 was a Formula One racing car which raced in the , and 1972 Formula One seasons. It was powered by a 3.0 litre V12 engine. Its best result was a victory at the 1970 Belgian Grand Prix.-References:...					MON 1972 Monaco Grand Prix The 1972 Monaco Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Monaco on May 14, 1972. This was the last race on the original Monaco circuit, before the swimming pool was installed and the tunnel was lengthened... 8	BEL 1972 Belgian Grand Prix The 1972 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Nivelles on June 4, 1972.- Classification :-Standings after the race:Drivers' Championship standingsConstructors' Championship standings... 10
		BRM P160B BRM P160 The BRM P160 was a Formula One racing car which raced in the 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974 Formula One seasons. It was powered by a 3.0 litre V12 engine....							FRA 1972 French Grand Prix The 1972 French Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Charade Circuit on July 2, 1972.Due to cutting the corners, a stone thrown from Emerson Fittipaldi's Lotus hit Helmut Marko in the eye during the 1972 French Grand Prix, ending his F1 career. The stones also had caused ten deflated tyres,... Ret	GBR 1972 British Grand Prix The 1972 British Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Brands Hatch on July 15, 1972. It was won by Brazilian driver Emerson Fittipaldi driving a Lotus 72D.- Classification :-Standings after the race:Drivers' Championship standings...	GER 1972 German Grand Prix The 1972 German Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Nürburgring on July 30, 1972.- Classification :- Notes :* Pole position: Jacky Ickx - 7:07.0* Fastest lap: Jacky Ickx - 7:13.6...	AUT 1972 Austrian Grand Prix The 1972 Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One held at Österreichring on August 13, 1972.- Classification :-Standings after the race:Drivers' Championship standingsConstructors' Championship standings...	ITA 1972 Italian Grand Prix The 1972 Italian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Monza on September 10, 1972.- Classification :- Notes :* Pole Position: Jacky Ickx - 1:35.65* Fastest Lap: Jacky Ickx - 1:36.3...	CAN 1972 Canadian Grand Prix The 1972 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One race held at Mosport Park on September 24, 1972.- Classification :-Standings after the race:Drivers' Championship standingsConstructors' Championship standings...	USA 1972 United States Grand Prix The 1972 United States Grand Prix was a Formula One race held on October 8, 1972 at the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course in Watkins Glen, New York.__FORCETOC__-Summary:...