Red Bull team principal Christian Horner defended Helmut Marko’s right to express an opinion – even if not everyone shares it – on Isack Hadjar.

After all, Horner says Red Bull‘s senior advisor and driver programme boss Marko is “old school” and “a guy who lost an eye and pulled over the car and just turned the engine off”.

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Hadjar had impressed on his rookie F1 race weekend in Melbourne with Red Bull’s junior team VCARB, but the Frenchman was the first to be caught out by tricky conditions on Grand Prix Sunday, spinning on the formation lap on a damp and greasy Albert Park circuit.

Crashing his rear wing into the wall, that was Hadjar’s first Grand Prix finished, and he returned to the paddock a teary wreck, after which Marko’s comments to ORF began circulating and sparking debate, having summarised that Hadjar “put on a tearful show” and it was “a bit embarrassing”.

And ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix, Horner – who had expressed sympathy for Hadjar in the aftermath of his Melbourne shunt – gave his thoughts on what Marko had to say.

“Look, Helmut’s 82 years of age. He’s old school,” Horner told Sky F1. “He’s a guy who lost an eye and pulled over the car and just turned the engine off.

“He will always have his own opinion which he has the right to. Does everybody share that opinion? No.

“It was very sad to see him that upset. No doubt his team have got around him, But you forget how young they are. He’s 20 years of age, and he’s got a bright future ahead of him. He’ll be fine.”

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Hadjar would also respond to Marko’s comments, revealing he had a phone call from the Austrian on the Monday.

Within his response, Hadjar also moved to suggest that Marko’s words had perhaps been lost in translation somewhere between German and English.

“I found it embarrassing myself,” he said.

“I know Helmut. I had him on the phone a day later, all good. I’ve known him since a few years now. I know how he works.

“And also another point, I think he said that speaking German, he was reinterpreted differently. You don’t know about the body language. I didn’t see the footage, I can’t say much, but apart from that.

“And honestly, all the love from the fans and the people, I did not expect that at all when I binned it in the wall, so that was nice.”

Hadjar delivered a clean run to P15 on the grid for the Chinese GP Sprint.

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