"Sacked too late": Explosive claims of F1's dirty tactics and lies

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 Bull’s Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022, Horner “started cosying up” to Yoovidhya in a bid to elevate his role at the team.

“Together with Didi (Mateschitz), I founded Red Bull Racing in 2005,” Mark said. “We 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 wasn’t in good health.

“Christian came up to me and said: ‘He won’t make it to the end of the year.’

“From 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 Yoovidhya’s support. On behalf of ‘Austria’, I did everything I could to prevent that from happening.

“We were increasingly able to prove that Horner was lying about all sorts of things. When Chalerm (Yoovidhya) realized this too, he changed his mind.”

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.

“These last few years with Horner haven't been pleasant,” he said. “There have been underhanded tactics.

“Dirty 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 Pérez’s time? That was fabricated – 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.

“We had to do something because our on-track performance was lagging,” he said.

“Had 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. I’m absolutely convinced of that.”