F1
Helmut Marko lashes out at Christian Horner: "He lied about all sorts of things"
@DPPI
Helmut Marko has never been one to mince words. But now that the Austrian no longer has any contractual ties with Red BullWe should expect tongues to loosen even further. The octogenarian fired the first shot by lambasting his former colleague Christian Horner in an interview with De Limburger.
"These last few years with Horner haven't been pleasant. There have been underhanded tactics.", assures Marko, who nevertheless refutes that the departure of the former team principal was caused by a power struggle. "That's how the media always presented it, but it wasn't personal.", explains the former head of the Red Bull academy, who accuses Christian Horner of having tried to get closer to the Thai shareholder of the Austrian firm for his own benefit.
“With Didi [Mateschitz], I founded Red Bull Racing in 2005. We appointed Horner as team principal, and I was there as a supervisor,” rewind Helmut Marko. "In principle, power has always resided in Austria; we were the ones who made the decisions. I remember a party in 2022 before the Austrian Grand Prix. Didi was there, but he wasn't well. Christian came to me and said, "He won't survive until the end of the year." From that moment on, he started getting closer to Chalerm Yoovidhya (co-owner of Red Bull GmbH).
“When Didi died later that year, [Christian Horner] did everything he could to take over with Yoovidhya’s support. On behalf of Austria, I did everything I could to prevent that.” Marko continues, accusing Horner of having tried to get rid of him by any means necessary.
Verstappen « would have been champion » if Horner had left earlier
According to Marko, he fabricated the rumors that surfaced in 2024 that Red Bull was behind schedule in developing its 2026 engine and might lose Ford's support, which were leaked by the Austrian himself."I never said that, but Horner wanted to use it to suspend me." explains Marko. "Because Max intervened in Jeddah, it didn't happen."
Ultimately, the relationship between Christian Horner and Red Bull ended last July, which, according to Marko, was caused by the " lies "of the Briton." “We were increasingly able to prove that Horner was lying about all sorts of things. When Chalerm (Yoovidhya) realized this too, he changed his mind.”, reveals the Austrian, who believes the decision came too late to allow Max Verstappen to reverse the trend and go and win a fifth consecutive title.
“We had to act because on-track performance was declining. And if we had done it earlier, we would have turned things around more quickly and Max Verstappen would have been world champion this year. I am absolutely convinced of that.” Finally, he too left the Red Bull ship in recent days, after a decision presented as a mutual agreement between the Red Bull and himself. "Pure nonsense""That's what I call a statement," Marko snapped, referring to the press release published by Red Bull GmbH. What an atmosphere!
ALSO READ > Helmut Marko officially leaves Red Bull
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vincent moyet
16/12/2025 at 11:10 a.m.
I don't like the man or his methods either. It must be said, however, that the team saw a clear recovery after Horner's departure. But alongside that, Newey and Honda left, negotiations with Porsche fell through, the team shuffled its second drivers around and condemned itself to the constructors' championship... The management at Red Bull Racing was toxic, and the team is paying a heavy price.
Carrera46
15/12/2025 at 10:44 a.m.
Badmouthing a colleague of the group after the fact and in public confirms his high level... Good riddance.
Lucas Paul
15/12/2025 at 09:34 a.m.
Typical of the shady dealings of the Red Bull group since, alas, its creation... But alas, everything in life comes to an end :):):)
Yves-Henri RANDIER
14/12/2025 at 07:56 a.m.
Not very honorable or elegant of good old Doktor Helmoooooout to be drooling after the fact... even if he was never a gentleman! We suspected they weren't going on holiday together, but now we have confirmation.