The number of young drivers Red Bull has groomed for F1 is staggering. But they got an issue too. One of their young drivers has been just too good for the rest of his teammates – Max Verstappen. Now, how is a driver with 35 wins and 2 championships a problem for RBR? There is another perspective to it.

Red Bull Motorsport Advisor Helmut Marko has always been ruthless in his ways. Especially when a young driver from the academy does not perform up to the expected level, they get the pink slip. In this way, 3 drivers of the Milton Keynes academy have already been victims of Marko’s authoritarian ways.

Although the Austrian feels he is not being that cruel, it is Max Verstappen who just sets the high bar. In an interview with Road and Track, he explained how beating Max is not everyone’s cup of tea and they should understand that.

As per the excerpt from the interview of Helmut Marko by Road and Track, he said, “They [Max’s teammates are] think, ‘How can I overcome him?’ But they can’t do that, so they try to change the set-up on the car or adjust their driving style.” Marko also said how Max’s teammates who cannot match his place are “simply not as good as him.”

Helmut concluded that it was his job to make these other drivers understand the hard fact. He stated, “It’s my job to make them understand that. Is that cruel? I don’t think so.”

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Since Verstappen came to Red Bull, 3 of the young drivers have become victims of the alleged second-seat curse. Daniil Kvyat in 2015, Pierre Gasly in 2019, and Alex Albon is the latest at the end of 2020. Although Max was not teammates with Kvyat, the Dutchman was the reason why Kvyat got demoted.

The Infamous Second-Seat Curse of Red Bull

If we look at it objectively, there have been only 3 drivers who have met Helmut Marko and Red Bull’s performance expectations. Sebastian Vettel, Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo. This is only considering drivers from the RBR young driver academy, so Mark Webber and Sergio Perez are outliers in this case.

Vettel, Verstappen, and Ricciardo have been the 3 drivers who won races multiple times. Besides that, the dominance Seb and Max have shown in their respective championship-winning years is probably unparalleled.

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Though the result of this dominance has created a second-seat dilemma, specifically in Max’s case. No driver from Red Bull’s academy has been able to match Verstappen on pure performance. Ricciardo was one tough contender to the Dutchman. But since he left, Max has dominated the teammate battle.

Pierre Gasly was nowhere close to him in his 12 races in 2019. While Albon got a decent chance in one and a half seasons to make an impact but failed. Sergio Perez who is an outsider to Red Bull’s academy has shown glimpses of promise, but he probably lacks the raw pace Max has got.

There is an expectation that Perez might be the perfect teammate for Verstappen, which he has been so far. But will he match the 2-time champion and break that second-seat curse is a tricky question to answer.

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With the 2 seasons he has delivered so far, Helmut Marko may be happy with Perez. Although time will tell if that second-seat curse strikes Checo for not matching Max consistently in 2023 and beyond. What do you think? Is there anything like a Second-Seat curse at Red Bull?