Helmut Marko on Max Verstappen has once again been at the centre of the political and competitive debate in Formula 1 with the Red Bull advisor alleging that Verstappen would have won a fifth world championship in 2025 had Christian Horner been fired sooner. The comments, delivered post a dramatic season and seismic leadership transformations at Red Bull, have sparked the debate again regarding the influence of off-track power manufacturing on on track performance.
Helmut Marko had not been afraid of looking back at what he termed a tumultuous ending days of Christian Horner. Verstappen had ended the 2025 championship race two points behind McLaren Lando Norris, but made an impressive late life push under new team principal Laurent Mekies. However, Marko says that the damage was already being done way before Horner was dismissed in July.
To begin with, Marko wrote about the so called internal power struggle within Red Bull. Though media coverage tended to position the situation as a battle of personalities, the 82-year-old claimed that it was never personal. He repeated that Red Bull Racing was established in 2005 by himself and the late Dietrich Mateschitz and that Horner was the team principal with the structure being such that ultimate control was in Austria. In the eyes of Marko, this balance changed radically since the declining health and subsequent passing of Mateschitz a few months later back in the end of October 2022.
Nevertheless, this was the time after the death of Mateschitz that Marko had noted as decisive. He remembered a previous time when Horner told him at the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix that Mateschitz was not going to make the end of the year. Since then, Marko alleged that Horner started to links himself with Thai co-owner of Red Bull, Chalerm Yoovidhya, to consolidate its control. Marko was the counterpoint and he was representing the interests of what he called Austria so that Red Bull Racing would not go off track by neglecting the original model of governance.
The increased dominance of Red Bull did not last as long as was anticipated in 2025, and Maclaren was allowing to capitalise on the situation allowing Norris to be making a decisive edge in the championship before the summer vacation. Even though Verstappen staged a miraculous comeback during the second part of the season, Marko does not think that it was possible to prevent the loss of momentum in the first place.
Marko could not hesitate to state his creed, which was that, had we acted sooner, Max Verstappen would be world champion. Horner in his opinion held him back until it was too late to effect technical and operational changes and thus turn the championship gap. The revival under Mekies merely acted to support that feeling since Red Bull was now sharp, concentrated and united in the final rounds.
At the same time, Marko has also returned to what he had referred to as an unhealthy internal climate in the later years of Horner. He cited various scandals that he claims were created or blown out of proportion including that he had said culturally insensitive things about Mexican drivers under the leadership of Sergio Perez. According to Marko, those claims were categorically false, and that these were being used by the camp of Horner to sabotage his camp.
The same thing was true, he said, of rumors this year that Red Bull was way behind schedule in the development of its engine and that it also posed a threat to its future relationship with Ford. Marko refuted such allegations and said Horner was trying to take advantage of the situation to demand his suspension. Verstappen was only saved by the public help, specifically on the weekend in Saudi Arabia where he was publicly supported and at that point Yoovidhya pulled the plug.
As Marko observes, the lack of trust in the top management ultimately affected the nearest and the nearest inconsistency and misrepresentation. After that crutch failed, the dismissal of Horner was imminent and concluded a 20-year reign that was able to bring multiple championships but ended in a controversial manner.
Ultimately, the 2025 season can be remembered as not only of the breakthrough title of Norris, but also of how far Verstappen was because of internal instability. This lesson comes painfully into focus in the case of Marko when he realizes that it takes decisive leadership off the track as much as it does on the track. With Formula 1 approaching a new regulatory world order, the reorganization of Red Bull might still afford Verstappen a chance to win a championship again, but the failed time in 2025 will be lingering as a reminder of how even the most elite of drivers can lose a championship on the smallest of delays.
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