Reportedly Desperate to Get Rid of Helmut Marko, Christian Horner Tried Poaching Toto Wolff’s ‘Right Hand’

Of late, all is not well within the Red Bull camp as news of a potential power struggle between the top officials has been catching wind. Claims suggest Christian Horner is looking to oust Helmut Marko and consolidate power within the Austrian team. As the ‘civil war’ brews between the two, Crash.net reports Horner tried to poach arch-rival Toto Wolff’s right-hand man.

Following the death of Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022, reports of growing unrest to consolidate power at the top of the Red Bull tree started surfacing. Both Horner and Marko have been at Red Bull for decades, with Marko bringing Horner to the big leagues, and the two share a close friendship. As such, should a coup take place, it will have a major impact on the team and might even lead to the splitting up of the entire staff.

Christian Horner tried to poach a major Mercedes employee

Should there be no Helmut Marko in the picture, Horner will gain sole control of both Red Bull and AlphaTauri. Oliver Mintzlaff is now at the helm in place of Mateschitz and favors Marko staying with the team, much like Mateschitz.

According to a report by Crash.net, Horner was trying to bring in Mercedes’ Chief of Communications, Bradley Lord, who was the stand-in team principal for them in Japan and Qatar in the absence of Toto Wolff.

Claims suggest Horner was seeking the 51% support of the team’s Thai bosses to bring in Lord and make him the team principal of AlphaTauri. The move would have been a part of the alleged coup being planned by Horner, but the plan did not succeed. Instead, AlphaTauri CEO Peter Bayer named Laurent Merkies as the new team principal, which was evidently Marko’s call.

While reports of a sour relationship between Horner and Marko continue to surface, the Red Bull team principal has recently come forward to rubbish all allegations, as he claims he owes a lot to Marko and wants to continue the association for as long as the 80-year-old wants.

Helmut Marko will leave F1 on his own accord

Despite him being 80, Marko is still an active figure in F1 and a person of great influence within the Red Bull garage. As such, ousting him is no easy task. The Austrian has made it clear that he will leave the team and the sport on his own accord and on his terms rather than being told to step away from the team. The statements came following Red Bull’s takeover of AlphaTauri and the subsequent racist undertones of Marko when addressing the anger issues of Yuki Tsunoda.

While Horner believes in the capabilities of the Japanese driver, Marko has shown little faith. The Austrian wants drivers close to Max Verstappen‘s talents in each of their teams and would settle for nothing less. Even Verstappen prefers Marko over Horner as he claimed he, too, would leave Red Bull should Marko walk out the exit door.