Marko♎ has served as motorsport advisor to the Red Bull team since their inception in 2005 and 🌞has built up a close-knit relationship with team principal Horner. 

Horner acknowledged Marko’s importance in selecting some of the best ♏young talents to drive for Red Bull, but he al🐷so noted the 80-year-old Austrian’s tendency to speak his mind. 

Marko’s brutally honest remarks have often landed him in hot water over the years, and Horner admitted the media “onl✨y have to prod him” to “get a he🐼adline”. 

“I’ve known him for a long time,” Horner told ESPN. “When I first met him 🎃in 1996, I needed to buy a trailer for the Formula 3000 and Formula 2 team that I had.

“Helmut, first of all, he’s a passionate racer. He was a good driver himself until hi🍬s accident and he’𒉰s just very direct.

“With junior drivers, he’s picked some great ones. He’s a tough op🐷erator with the junior drivers but if they can’t survive Helmut, t🅷hey’ll never survive Formula 1.

“He’s 80 years young, he’s still watching every Formula 3 session and following the yo🌺ung talent religiously. I’ve always had a ver𝓰y straightforward and good relationship with him.”

Horner added: “He’s a communication manager’s nightmare. When h♊e goes rogue, then you guys [the media] only have to prod him and y♚ou’ll get a headline.

“But he just calls it as he sees it. He will🍨 tell you exactly what he thinks which in many respects is very similar to how Niki Lauda was.

“That same generation, sa🐟me makeup in many ways. But there꧑’s a great respect for Helmut and what he’s done and contributed over the years and at 80 years of age, he’s still looking for purple sectors.”