Helmut Marko stayed as a guest at Christian Horner’s family home two days before his firing, reveals former Red Bull boss
Christian Horner was fired out of nowhere by Red Bull in July 2025. This came as a shock not only to the F1 community, but to Horner himself. The former Red Bull Team Principal recently revealed how Helmut Marko stayed as a guest at his house just two days before the sacking, yet there wasn’t any indication of it from the Austrian.
Helmut Marko, Christian Horner and Adrian Newey under Dietrich Mateschitz were the three pillars that made Red Bull the successful team they are today. The three worked together for nearly two decades.
Yet, when Christian Horner was fired by Red Bull, he had no prior indication of the same, as it happened out of the blue. It is believed that Helmut Marko and Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff played a role in Horner’s firing from the team.
Christian Horner, speaking with The Times ahead of the launch of his autobiography “Drive”, revealed that Helmut Marko stayed at his house two days before his firing. Horner portrays Marko as an ‘abrasive, erratic, cold, unreliable, ruthless and fundamentally disloyal operator whose lack of empathy, compulsion to leak and divisive driver favouritism undermined the team.’
“A few days earlier he’d stayed at my house and spent time with my family, yet not a word had been said,” said Christian Horner
“If you wind the clock back, he gave me the initial opportunity. He saw something in me that he liked and he put me in front of Dietrich. But towards the end, and certainly after Dietrich died, he didn’t really have a function. I think he always viewed me as the protégé. And I was way beyond that,” added Horner
Christian Horner revealed that Helmut Marko stopped Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc’s move to Red Bull
After Red Bull decided to not continue with Sergio Perez for the 2025 season, Christian Horner wanted to sign Fernando Alonso or Charles Leclerc. The former Team Principal recently came out and detailed that Helmut Marko and Verstappen’s camp stopped the move from happening.
“During Japan 2024, Fernando even told me that he was really eager to race alongside Max the following season,” said Horner
“That order didn’t come from Max. Someone, somewhere, decided it wasn’t the right step for Red Bull. It disappointed me,” he added.
Red Bull replaced Checo with Liam Lawson, who was also replaced by Yuki Tsunoda just after two races. It wasn’t until Isack Hadjar was signed to partner Max Verstappen for the 2026 season that the driver in the dreaded second Red Bull seat started performing well
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