Helmut Marko had some strong words for Christian Horner after leaving his role at Red Bull. Horner was dismissed in July, while Marko’s departure was described as a mutual agreement.
The pair have worked together since the team’s start in 2005, but Marko accused the Briton of using ‘dirty tricks’ over the past few years.
The Austrian went further, accusing Horner of lying “about everything and anything” and feeding “fabricated” stories to the media to harm his reputation.
He also claimed that Red Bull would have won the 2025 world championship with Max Verstappen if Horner had been removed earlier. By the time Laurent Mekies took charge, the Dutchman was already 69 points behind in the standings.
Christian Horner came out of Red Bull better off than Helmut Marko
Reacting to the situation on the AS Colombia YouTube channel, Montoya said that the falling-out was ‘sad’ and had taken attention away from what Marko achieved during his time at Red Bull.
Montoya suggested that the comments may have been fuelled by jealousy. While the Austrian reportedly received an £8.7m payoff from Red Bull, Horner’s severance package was around ten times larger.
“There were certainly dramas, fights and manipulation by Christian, 100%. But Helmut isn’t a saint. Neither of them are saints,” said the Colombian former driver, who raced for Marko in F3000.
“What surprises me is at this point is that it was unnecessary. Why close the Red Bull chapter, all the good they did, all the championships Helmut won, all the drivers he brought in… Nobody is talking about Helmut, what the great Helmut Marko did.
“He focused on the fight with Christian and didn’t focus on [that]. It’s sad, because the work he did was spectacular. People don’t agree with the way he did things, but he really did a very good job.”
“Dirty games were played on both sides. You know what happened? They both got sacked – I shouldn’t say this – and one came out much better than the other.”
The differences in compensation were likely influenced by several factors, such as salary and contract length.
Why did Helmut Marko leave Red Bull?
Back when Marko’s future was in question early in the 2024 season, the Dutchman openly suggested he might leave if Marko went. But over time, Verstappen seemed to back away from that stance.
According to a report, one incident that caused friction was Marko signing Alex Dunne to the Red Bull programme without wider approval. The move ended up costing Red Bull a significant sum to reverse.
This was not an isolated issue, either. Isack Hadjar was told by Marko in August that he would be joining Red Bull, even though Mekies and Oliver Mintzlaff had not yet signed off on the move. It added to the growing list of decisions that did not align with how Red Bull wanted things done.
Marko expected his role to grow after Horner left, but Red Bull clearly had other ideas about how they wanted to move forward. In the end, that difference in vision may have made his departure inevitable.
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