Helmut Marko likens Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen's Red Bull teammate: "A handicap for Ferrari"

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has deemed Lewis Hamilton a 'handicap' for Ferrari. In his recent conversation, Marko talked about Max Verstappen's Red Bull teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, and compared him to the Ferrari driver.

Hamilton and Tsunoda are both in their maiden F1 campaigns with Ferrari and Red Bull, respectively. The two have struggled to perform at the level of their respective teammates, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull).

After the first 14 rounds of the 2025 F1 season, Hamilton is on 109 points in comparison to Leclerc's 151, and Tsunoda is on only 10 points in comparison to Verstappen's 187.

Helmut Marko believed that the second drivers of Ferrari, Red Bull, and Mercedes (Kimi Antonelli) were hindering the teams' progress. Talking about the current condition of the top three teams in the Constructors' table, he said, via Planet F1:

"Second place in the Constructors’ Championship is not realistic because Yuki scores points too rarely. We are fighting for third place with Mercedes. The second driver is also a handicap for Ferrari with Hamilton and for Mercedes with Antonelli."

In the 2025 Constructors Championship, McLaren is way ahead of the chasing pack with 559 points. Ferrari is in second spot with 260 points, whereas Mercedes and Red Bull are in third and fourth with 236 and 194 points, respectively. All these teams could have had even more points had Hamilton, Antonelli, and Tsunoda managed to put in consistent performances up until the Hungarian GP.

Racing in F1 is at a halt with the ongoing summer break and will return to the TV screens from August 29 onwards with the Dutch Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton 'definitely' has what it takes to win an 8th F1 title, says Toto Wolff

F1 Grand Prix of Hungary - Source: Getty

One of the main reasons why Lewis Hamilton switched to the Ferrari F1 team was to secure the record-breaking eighth Drivers' World Championship. Currently with seven titles, he is on par with the F1 legend and Ferrari royalty Michael Schumacher.

Hamilton left Mercedes last year, as the team was not able to provide him with a championship-worthy car from 2022 onwards. In line with Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari and the prospect of him winning an eighth title, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said, via the BBC:

"If he has a car underneath him that he has confidence in, that does what he wants, then yes. If he has a car that it's not giving him the feedback that he wants, and that was the Mercedes of the past few years, and that seems to be the Ferrari, and even worse, then not. But you ask me whether he has it, he definitely has it."

Several eyes will be on Lewis Hamilton during the upcoming second leg of the 2025 Formula 1 season.