'Brutally Honest' Helmut Marko Described By Former Red Bull Junior Crawford

Tuesday, 30 January 2024 at 21:00

American racing driver who recently left Red Bull Academy described Helmut Marko, who leads the program.

Red Bull Racing is currently the best team on the Formula 1 grid. Drivers who become part of Red Bull's academy might have a chance to get their shot in Visa Cash App Racing Bulls or even in the Championship winning team if they can prove they have what it takes.

However, that is a long way and every single driver has to face a lot of pressure before he even makes it to F1. The academy is led By Helmut Marko - who recently extended his contract with Red Bull.

Marko is known for not having too much patience with young drivers. Jak Crawford described his experience with the 80-year-old when speaking to Racer:

"I think the hardest things are obviously the pressure and expectation that is set on you. He puts a lot of faith in his drivers, but he also expects a lot."

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Some of the most successful drivers in the sport that we know very well today come from Red Bull Academy. Examples include Carlos Sainz, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen. Crawford remembered his meeting with Marko:

"He’s very busy, so you end up waiting on him. And then you sit there and he just walks up, and then he says, ‘So…’ in a very deep voice! Then he asks, ‘What happened?’ And his conversations are very short, very straight to the point."

The Austrian Red Bull advisor is also quite well known for being very honest, even in the media, as he often states his opinions bluntly. The former Red Bull academy driver described him as "brutally honest" as he added:

"Sometimes he’s brutally honest. That’s the right way to say it. Sometimes it can be too brutally honest, where it can be unfair at times, if you want to say, but it’s not so bad. To me it was very, very short, and very to the point."