Helmut Marko: Verstappen would have won the 2025 championship if Horner had left earlier
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, who will leave the team at the end of 2025, believes that Max Verstappen would have conquered the 2025 world championship if former team principal Christian Horner had left the team earlier in the season. Marko’s statement comes after a turbulent year, marked by Horner’s dismissal in July and Verstappen’s loss of the drivers’ title by only two points. The relationship between Horner and Marko, characterized by conflicts and power struggles, was tense during their time together at the head of the team.Marko, in an interview with the Dutch publication De Limburger, rejected the idea that his relationship with Horner was personal and also dismissed the claim that Horner’s departure after the British Grand Prix was a personal victory for him.No, we had to act because the performance on the track was decreasing. And if we had done it earlier, we would have put things on track earlier and Max Verstappen would have been world champion this year. I am absolutely convinced of that.
Helmut Marko
Marko recounted a party in 2022 before the Austrian Grand Prix, where Mateschitz was not well. Horner, according to Marko, told him that Mateschitz would not make it to the end of the year and from that moment began to approach Chalerm Yoovidhya. After the death of Mateschitz, Horner, with the support of Yoovidhya, tried to take control of the team. Marko went on to claim that Horner resorted to “dirty games” in the last years of his time at the team. Referring to comments he made about Sergio Pérez after the 2023 Italian Grand Prix, in which he attributed Pérez’s fluctuating performance to his ethnic origin and for which he later apologized, Marko insinuated that the comments were somehow “fabricated”.Together with Didi [Dietrich Mateschitz], I founded Red Bull Racing in 2005. I appointed Horner as team principal, and I was there as supervisor. Basically, the power was always in Austria, we decided.
Helmut Marko
When Red Bull announced Marko’s departure, a statement from the Austrian was included where he said that Verstappen’s loss of the championship had “deeply” moved him and “made it clear” that it was the right time to resign. In his interview with De Limburger, Marko stated that he hadn’t even read Red Bull’s press release.But those last years with Horner were not pleasant. They were playing dirty games. Do you remember when it was claimed that I said that Mexicans were less focused than the Dutch or Germans during Sergio Pérez’s time? That was fabricated, possibly by them [Horner’s team]. The same goes for the claim that in 2024 I spread the story that the development of our engine was behind schedule and that, therefore, we would lose Ford as a partner. I never said that, but Horner wanted to use it to get me suspended. Because of Max’s support in Jeddah, that didn’t happen.
Helmut Marko
Marko explained that his decision to leave the team was made during the last two races of the season. The idea of leaving began to take shape for me in Qatar. I am not one to hesitate; I am quite decisive. On the Thursday before the last race in Abu Dhabi, I decided for myself that this would be my last weekend.I don’t want to go into too much detail, but I didn’t read that press release full of nonsense. Let’s just say that many things have changed in the team in a short time. You think you know people well, but in the end it turns out you don’t… I really won’t say more.
Helmut Marko
