Former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has been accused of lying in an extraordinary attack by Helmut Marko.<\/p>\n
It comes after Red Bull GmbH announced earlier this week that Marko will leave his role as a senior advisor after more than 20 years, following Horner out the exit door.<\/p>\n
Helmut Marko takes aim at Christian Horner in astonishing interview<\/p>\n
This article was originally published on December 14 2025<\/p>\n
Horner was abruptly sacked by Red Bull in the aftermath of this year\u2019s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, bringing an end to his two-decade stint in charge of the Milton Keynes team.<\/p>\n
The 52-year-old\u2019s final years in charge were dominated by controversy, with Horner twice cleared of wrongdoing after allegations of inappropriate behaviour by a Red Bull staff member.<\/p>\n
Horner was also faced with rumours of a Red Bull power struggle following the death of founder Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022, with the former team principal also having an uneasy relationship with Jos Verstappen, the father of Red Bull\u2019s star driver Max Verstappen.<\/p>\n
What next for Christian Horner after Red Bull exit?<\/p>\n
What next for Christian Horner? Ranking every F1 team in order of likelihood<\/a><\/p>\n Is Christian Horner the final piece in Adrian Newey\u2019s Aston Martin masterplan?<\/a><\/p>\n In an astonishing interview with Dutch publication De Limburger, Marko claimed that Horner \u201cstarted cosying up\u201d to Chalerm Yoovidhya, the Thai businessman and majority shareholder of Red Bull GmbH, in the months before Mateschitz\u2019s death in 2022.<\/p>\n Put to him that Horner\u2019s departure marked the end of the power struggle between the pair, Marko replied:\u00a0\u201cThat\u2019s how it\u2019s always been described in the media, but it wasn\u2019t personal.<\/p>\n \u201cTogether with Didi [Mateschitz], I founded Red Bull Racing in 2005. We appointed Horner as team principal, and I was there as supervisor.<\/p>\n \u201cIn principle, the power always lay in Austria; we made the decisions.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember a party in 2022 prior to the Austrian Grand Prix. Didi was there, but he wasn\u2019t in good health.<\/p>\n \u201cChristian came up to me and said: \u2018He won\u2019t make it to the end of the year.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cFrom that moment on, he started cosying up to Chalerm Yoovidhya.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Didi passed away later that year, he did everything he could to take over with Yoovidhya\u2019s support.<\/p>\n \u201cOn behalf of \u2018Austria\u2019, I did everything I could to prevent that from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n Watch our drifting finale with V14<\/p>\n Marko went on to claim that \u201cdirty games\u201d were played behind the scenes at Red Bull during Horner\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n \u201cThose last few years with Horner were not pleasant. There were dirty games being played,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you remember me saying, during Sergio Perez\u2019s time, that Mexicans are less focused than the Dutch or Germans? That was fabricated, perhaps by them.\u201d<\/p>\n Marko was referring to an incident at the 2023 Italian Grand Prix, when he told Red Bull\u2019s own television channel ServusTV: \u201cWe know that [Perez] has problems in qualifying, he has fluctuations in form, he is South American and he is just not as completely focused in his head as Max [Verstappen] is or as Sebastian [Vettel].\u201d<\/p>\n It led to an apology from Marko being issued shortly afterwards:\u00a0\u201cI would like to apologise for my offensive remark and want to make it absolutely clear that I do not believe that we can generalise about the people from any country, any race, any ethnicity.<\/p>\n \u201cI was trying to make a point that Checo [Perez] has fluctuated in his performance this year, but it was wrong to attribute this to his cultural heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking about another alleged fabrication, Marko told De Limburger,\u00a0\u201cJust like I supposedly spread the rumour in 2024 that the development of our engine was behind schedule and that we would therefore lose Ford as our sponsor.<\/p>\n \u201cI never said that, but Horner wanted to use it to suspend me.\u00a0Because Max stepped in at Jeddah, it didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n Rumours of a possible suspension emerged in the early stages of the F1 2024 season, but were understood to be related to an investigation into the leaking of alleged information pertaining to a separate internal investigation into Horner\u2019s behaviour, information which ended up being sent to members of the F1 media.<\/p>\n Marko acknowledged the possibility of action being taken against him when he spoke to the media ahead of the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but following peace talks, he was not suspended.<\/p>\n