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"Sacked too late": Explosive claims of F1's dirty tactics and lies
SENĀ ā¢ Ā December 15th, 2025 11:09 am
Explosive claims of dirty tactics and an attempted coup have emerged from F1 team Red Bull, with outgoing senior adviser Helmut Marko launching an extraordinary attack as he exits the sport.
The 82-year-old, who will depart Red Bull at the end of this month after two decades with the team, took aim at former team principal Christian Horner who was sacked earlier this year after being accused of sexual harassment and coercive behaviour.
Speaking with Dutch media outlet De Limburger, Marko was asked about an apparent power struggle between himself and Horner and Chalerm Yoovidhya, a majority shareholder at Red Bull and Thai businessman.
Following the death of Red Bullās Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022, Horner āstarted cosying upā to Yoovidhya in a bid to elevate his role at the team.
āTogether with Didi (Mateschitz), I founded Red Bull Racing in 2005,ā Mark said. āWe appointed Horner as team principal, and I was there as supervisor.
"In principle, the power always lay in Austria; we made the decisions. I remember a party in 2022 prior to the Austrian Grand Prix. Didi was there, but he wasnāt in good health.
āChristian came up to me and said: āHe wonāt make it to the end of the year.ā
āFrom that moment on, he started cosying up to Chalerm Yoovidhya. When Didi passed away later that year, he did everything he could to take over with Yoovidhyaās support. On behalf of āAustriaā, I did everything I could to prevent that from happening.
āWe were increasingly able to prove that Horner was lying about all sorts of things. When Chalerm (Yoovidhya) realized this too, he changed his mind.ā
During his tenure Marko oversaw the development of drivers like Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz. His graduates have won eight world titles between them.
Mark accused Horner of fabricating stories to damage his reputation in his bid to rise the ranks at RBR.
āThese last few years with Horner haven't been pleasant,ā he said. āThere have been underhanded tactics.
āDirty games were being played. Do you remember when it was claimed that I said Mexicans were less focused than Dutch or German people during Sergio PĆ©rezās time? That was fabricated ā possibly by them (team Horner)."
In a final swipe at Horner, who was team principal for at Red Bull for 20 years, Mark said Verstappen would have won the 20205 world title if the team had sacked him sooner.
āWe had to do something because our on-track performance was lagging,ā he said.
āHad we done that sooner, by the way, we would have gotten things back on track faster this year, and Max would have become world champion. Iām absolutely convinced of that.ā
