Helmut Marko Reveals ‘Funny Guy’ with Mental Strength to Match Max Verstappen at Red Bull

Helmut Marko reveals the ideal replacement that can pair up with Max Verstappen at Red Bull in the coming season and replace Yuki Tsunoda.

Helmut Marko Reveals ‘Funny Guy’ with Mental Strength to Match Max Verstappen at Red Bull

Max Verstappen and Helmut Marko (via Red Bull)

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The second driver problem at Red Bull has continued for the past couple of years. The team swapped Liam Lawson within just two races at the beginning of the 2025 season, with Yuki Tsunoda, in hopes of improving results. However, with the majority of the year being passed already, Max Verstappen is still the majority point scorer within the Austrian squad. As such, Helmut Marko now picks his favorite driver on the current grid that could be good enough to match Verstappen at Milton Keynes.

Notably, Max Verstappen has achieved 230 points out of the 239 total for Red Bull in the 2025 season. His newly appointed teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, has failed to exceed expectations and is suffering from a disappointing outing this year. As such, the team is likely to now look for a replacement for the Japanese driver under the new regulations of the 2026 season.

Red Bull’s sister team, Racing Bulls, is harboring some great talent with the rookie Isack Hadjar. The rookie has surpassed all expectations and has continued to remain a consistent point scorer. Even at the most recent Italian GP, Hadjar scored points in the race despite starting from the pit lane. Hence, Helmut Marko asserted that the Frenchman is a funny guy who always blames himself and not the team or the car. Moreover, the 20-year-old rarely made mistakes on track, which was surprising for a rookie driver.

He’s a funny guy who never blames the car, but always only himself. Also, he doesn’t make any mistakes and that’s really surprising for a new driver.

Helmut Marko told Kleine Zeitung

Further, Helmut Marko insisted that Isack Hadjar improved his performance on every track, although he was racing there for the first time. As such, Marko confidently believes that Hadjar has the mental strength to challenge Max Verstappen at Red Bull and maintain positive results. However, the 2025 season is still pending, and time will tell if the Frenchman is able to receive a promotion to the parent team.

He improves on every track and is fully involved after a few laps, regardless of whether he has driven there before. He certainly has this mental strength to be able to hold his own against Verstappen.

Helmut Marko added

Helmut Marko insists Red Bull to ‘stick’ to Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda

Max Verstappen is famously known to be the career killer at Red Bull, as no other driver has been able to match the standards that he has set at the team. Verstapen has kept up with results, no matter the adversities, and proved his racing mettle on the grid. As such, despite Yuki Tsunoda not being able to match expectations, Helmut Marko insists that the team might stick to their current driver pool.

Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)
Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen (via Red Bull)

Helmut Marko asserted that Red Bull might decide to continue with their driver pool for the cockpits of the 2026 season. As things currently are, Max Verstappen is continuing his tenure at Milton Keynes and probably will even retire with the same outfit. However, Marko did accept that if a super talent comes along, especially Isack Hadjar, the team won’t look away from it and make a decision in the best interest of the team.

Basically, we want to stick to our driver pool when it comes to the cockpits for 2026. Of course, if a super talent comes along, we won’t look away, but that’s not the case at the moment.

Helmut Marko noted

Red Bull still has to improve significantly if they want to return back to their winning ways. Even though Max Verstappen is capable of extracting performance from a mediocre car, they must consider the second driver and help him improve performance as well. Hence, the coming season would be interesting to witness for Milton Keynes as they hope to come out of the desperate performance slump as soon as possible.

Also Read: (Video) “Dududu,” Tifosi Chant Max Verstappen Song After Dutchman’s Italian GP Triumph