The undisputed best Red Bull driver ever – revealed by Marko

Red Bull has enjoyed many incredible drivers at the wheel of their Formula 1 machinery, including two multi-time World Champions.

Those crown jewel drivers are Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen – both four-time World Champions with Red Bull – but when it comes to picking the best racer Red Bull has ever had, Verstappen was the easy choice for senior advisor Helmut Marko.

Max Verstappen: Red Bull’s greatest driver?

Verstappen burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old with Red Bull, starting out with junior team Toro Rosso in 2015 before earning a promotion to Red Bull Racing the following year, Verstappen winning on debut at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix.

Skip forward to 2021 and Verstappen began his run of four straight Drivers’ Championships, which included winning 19 of the 22 grands prix in 2023, record-breaking dominance on the way to his third crown.

For Marko, Verstappen sits alone atop the Red Bull mountain.

Asked on the BBC’s ‘The Inside Track’ podcast whether Verstappen is the best driver he has worked with, Marko replied: “He definitely is the best driver we ever had, and he’s developing, developing.

“And in Imola, this third corner overtake was unbelievable.

“And I don’t see the end of his progress yet. It always comes something extra. It was like last year the race in Brazil in the wet, from I think, 17th to first, he’s getting faster with less risk and more calm.

“He doesn’t have to push every lap. He’s really, I wouldn’t say relaxed, but he’s not pushing, or it doesn’t look like he’s on the limit also. It’s just when it matters, he delivers.”

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Quizzed on what makes Verstappen such a special talent, Marko added: “He had a tough time with his dad in go-karts.

“He trained him for all situations. That when you come to a new circuit, you have to be fast immediately, you have to go out in the rain and things like that.

“But on top of that, he has an unbelievable talent. He had his training, as I mentioned, from Jos, but also, the rest of the time he has, he is on his simulator. So I can’t really say how much it helps, but I believe whatever happens to him, he knows about it because he’d have seen it in one of the simulator situations.

“And he’s committed. He is just interested in racing. He does besides that, nothing. He has quite a simple life and all that together makes a very strong racing personality.”

Marko can see that Verstappen’s training to be on the pace immediately has paid off, recalling Japan 2023 as a shining example.

That race weekend followed Singapore, where Red Bull suffered their only defeat of a remarkable 2023 campaign.

“As I said, he’s still developing, but one thing was already in the beginning, he doesn’t need any warm-up or knowledge, you know,” said Marko.

“If it’s wet, he goes out and he’s two or three seconds ahead of the others, and then it takes them three, four laps, and they can match the Max time, and that is one of his really strengths.

“Or after we lost the race in Singapore, we went to Suzuka, and his first lap, I can’t remember how much he was in front, but it was immense.”

Verstappen faces an uphill task to make it five World titles in a row with McLaren having emerged as the new leading force. After 12 rounds of the F1 2025 campaign, Verstappen is 69 points behind Championship leader Oscar Piastri.

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