Daniel Ricciardo is too inconsistent, Pierre Gasly was always "looking for excuses" and Alexander Albon is "too nice".
Those are views held by Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who has given his brutally honest assessment of those who have raced for the team in the past. The Austrian also gave his views on Carlos Sainz, who used to be a member of Red Bull's young driver programme but left before graduating to the top team.
The Spaniard is one of the main rivals to Max Verstappen these days, racing for Ferrari and having won his maiden F1 race last weekend at Silverstone. But many moons ago they were team-mates at Toro Rosso – but not all was well between the two future winners.
"It was his bad luck to get Max as a teammate," Marko told the Red Bulletin – a Red Bull publication. "The atmosphere between the two at Toro Rosso was quite toxic. In the setup we had at the time, I couldn't see a way of keeping him with us and so he moved to Renault, McLaren, and then on to Ferrari."
Ricciardo spent more time racing alongside Verstappen and, notwithstanding some high-profile examples of tension between them, the two generally got along well. The Australian won several races with Red Bull and, for a time, was their lead driver – but apparently Marko was not all that impressed.
"In his first year at Red Bull, he beat [Sebastian] Vettel by three wins to nil," said the 79-year-old. "Max coming on the scene was at a crunch point in his career. Rather than taking up the fight, [Ricciardo] wanted to keep his distance. And you know what happened next. That's too bad. He was always nice to work with. His speed is comparable to that of Max, but he's just lacking that ultimate consistency."
Gasly later came in from the sister team, but his time with Red Bull lasted for just six months before he was unceremoniously dropped. Part of the reason why he failed to cement his spot, in Marko's view, was because he was always "looking for excuses instead of tackling his own mistakes".
But Marko has been impressed with how the Frenchman has settled back in at AlphaTauri since being dropped. "He is the team leader and doing incredible things. Like his compatriot Francois Cevert, he is fast, cheeky, and devoted to the beautiful things in life."
Gasly was replaced by Albon, but he too failed to deliver the results needed at a top team. "Alex is very fast, but I wonder if he’s too nice," said Marko of the British-Thai racer. "He's a bit like David Coulthard, who everyone likes, but wasn't tough enough in the end."
Marko was much more kind about the drivers still contracted to the team, including Sergio Perez. "He arrived with a win under his belt and he was in a positive mood," explained the Austrian. "Then he met Max. This led to a certain amount of uncertainty, especially in qualifying. He chooses his own hotels, and lives within the team with his own advisors. I don't know exactly what they all do, but they are very nice people."
And even Yuki Tsunoda got a nice evaluation, despite Marko calling him a "problem child" earlier this week. "He is prone to outbursts of anger, but he is bloody fast, whatever you say. "We believe in him and his huge potential. When he isn't under stress he's incredibly funny and likeable. Everyone likes Yuki, even if no one can blow their top quite like he does."
