Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko hasn’t eased on his stance that Isack Hadjar’s tears following his Australian GP formation lap were “embarrassing.” In fact, he has doubled down.

Speaking to Sky Sports Germany, Marko once again reiterated that Hadjar’s tears were embarrassing before further suggesting that Formula 1 requires a “toughness” of character.

Helmut Marko demands ‘toughness’ from Isack Hadjar

At 81 years of age, Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko is one of Formula 1’s few remaining links with the state of the sport in the 1970s.

That was an era where even minor crashes could have fatal consequences, and where countless Grand Prix drivers died behind the wheel. Marko’s close childhood friend, Jochen Rindt, was one such driver.

As such, racers of that generation often adopted a harder heart when it came to on-track mistakes — after all, even a small error could get you or someone else killed. That perhaps explains why Marko lambasted Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar as ’embarrassing’ after the rookie crashed on the formation lap of the Australian Grand Prix and then proceeded to dissolve into tears.

It may also help explain why Marko has doubled down on those comments ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.

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Speaking to Sky Germany, Helmut Marko was once again asked about Isack Hadjar’s crash and once again stated, “It was a bit embarrassing.

“Because of the emotions, he didn’t take off his helmet, but that’s my Austrian version [of events].”

Marko shared that he “talked to him” on the phone after the fact, “and there’s no renewed sentiment about it. He delivered a sensational practice session, and then, unfortunately, that just happens.

“But as I said, this is Formula 1, and you have to show a certain toughness, otherwise, a colleague will soon take advantage of it.”

Tears, Marko seems to believe, do not display that toughness.

In the official press conference before the kick-off of the second race weekend of 2025, Hadjar admitted that he “found it embarrassing myself.”

However, not everyone was as willing to let Marko’s comments slide. This younger era of racers seems to be more in tune with the complex emotions that accompany a racing career — more willing to embrace those emotions than hide and compartmentalize them. In that vein, drivers like Lando Norris have kickstarted vulnerable conversations about mental health.

Ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix weekend, Carlos Sainz of Williams agreed, saying that Hadjar’s emotional reaction to his crash was “completely understandable.”

“You have every driver going through the same emotions, some choose to show it publicly, others don’t, but the reality is the emotions are always there,” the Spaniard explained.

“It’s just a matter of if you want others to see it but I guess in this case Isack couldn’t avoid everyone seeing it.

“He tried by keeping his helmet on which we’ve seen many drivers doing in the past, and I’ve never heard it being criticised.”

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