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Red Bull CEO Oliver Mintzlaff has broken his silence on Helmut Marko’s shocking claims about former team principal Christian Horner. A few days later Marko announced that he would be leaving Red Bull after the 2025 F1 season, he gave an explosive interview to Dutch publication Limburger.
In it, the 82-year-old Austrian, who had been one of the founding fathers of Red Bull together with Horner in 2005, accused the Briton of “lying” and playing “dirty games” in his final years on the team to step aside and assume greater control within the organization.
In a recent interview with de Telegraaf, Oliver Mintzlaff was asked about Helmut Marko’s hit on Christian Horner.
“These words about Christian are on behalf of Helmut. I can’t say anything negative about Christian, simply because he has meant a lot to Red Bull. But there always comes a time when things don’t go well, and then you have to make a decision as a company. Are you going to give someone more time, or is it time for a new leader? We thought it was time for a change.”
Red Bull sacked Horner in early July with immediate effect and promoted Laurent Mekies from Racing Bulls to replace him. Under Mekies, the team flourished again to come close to helping Max Verstappen to a fifth successive F1 title.
Beyond Helmut Marko’s claims that “a lot has changed” at the team in recent times, which were apparently cast in a negative light, Mintzlaff added:
“I don’t agree with Helmut’s statements. Yes, it is logical that things change in an organization. Maybe Dr. Marko has also changed over the years. I think it is quite normal that everything is not the same as it was five years ago. Christian and Helmut have worked wonderfully for many years, since the beginning in 2005. So we are talking about more than twenty years.”
Mintzlaff stressed that rarely do sporting organizations as big as Red Bull, which has won eight F1 drivers’ championships and six constructors’ championships, have senior leadership that remains unchanged for two decades.
Helmut Marko claims Max Verstappen would have won the 2025 title if Christian Horner had been fired earlier.
Early in 2024 reports emerged of a “power struggle” within Red Bull, with Christian Horner pitted against Helmut Marko and the Verstappens.
Sporting director Jonathan Wheatley left for Sauber, Adrian Newey left for Aston Martin and under new technical leadership, the team’s on-track performance declined. When Horner was finally let go, albeit with a whopping $100 million payoutnew leader Laurent Mekies seemed to facilitate a quick comeback.
Max Verstappenwho was once 104 points behind former championship leader Oscar Piastri, overcame the gap with a sensational run in the second half of the season, including six wins. He eventually lost the drivers’ championship to Lando Norris by two points.
In the interview with Limburger, Helmut Marko claimed that Verstappen would have won the title if Christian Horner had been fired earlier. Asked if Horner’s dismissal was a personal victory for him, the Austrian replied:
“No. We had to act because the performance on the track was lagging behind. And if we had done it earlier, we would have got things back together earlier, and Max Verstappen would have been world champion this year. I am absolutely convinced of that.”
Helmut Marko left Red Bull after 20 years with the team. During this tenure, he developed and oversaw the progression of 20 drivers into F1, two of whom, Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, won four drivers’ titles each.
Edited by Yash Kotak
