Just when it looked like it was safe to go out in the Formula One paddock, Christian Horner is now forced to deal with questions created by Red Bull’s ‘advisor’ – Dr. Helmut Marko. The 81 year old Austrian was a personnel friend of the Red Bull empire founding billionaire and despite not being employed by the F1 team, Marko has always had the freedom to speak as he wishes on all things Red Bull and F1.

The boss of the Red Bull team is no stranger in having to deal with the fall out from certain Helmut Marko comments yet even in the most trying of circumstances Horner has sought not to criticise the team’s ‘advisor’. 

 

 

 

Marko ‘racism’ storm

Last year Marko created a storm when critiquing Sergio Perez’s driving mishaps. Having praised Checo for an excellent Italian Grand Prix, Marko went on to say: “Let’s remember that he is South American and so his head is not as focused as Max Verstappen or as Sebastian Vettel was, but racing is his forte and he had a very good race.”

Amusingly Perez is from Guadalajara, which is geographically in Mexico, North America – no matter.

Marko became engulfed in a paddock wide row following these comments, with Lewis Hamilton prior to the Singapore Grand Prix saying: “It’s completely unacceptable what he said.”

Hamilton proceeded to call on the Red Bull Racing team to publicly sanction Marko and have him “removed.”

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Disagreement over Nyck de Vries

After repeatedly being questioned over the matter and refusing to comment, Christian Horner eventually relented coming in some small way to Helmut Marko’s defence.

“Obviously from Helmut’s perspective he’s apologised,” said Horner. “He’s not an employee of Red Bull Racing so in terms of why didn’t we put out a statement, he’s part of the Red Bull wider group and the group obviously issued that apology through the Servus TV channel.”

Marko also revealed there had been a disagreement between himself and the Red Bull team boss over the recruitment of Nyck de Vries to drive for AlphaTauri. The young Dutch driver survived just ten races before being replaced by Horner’s preferred choice of Daniel Ricciardo.

Speaking to the Inside Line podcast Marko explained how such management decisions were made.

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Sainz given ultimatum by Audi

“The team management and the team principal, it’s a common decision. Not often [does he disagree with Christian Horner], but sometimes we do. The last one, I would say, is Nyck de Vries,” said Marko.

“And at the moment, it looks like he [Christian Horner] was right… He was not a fan of Nyck de Vries.”

With the silly season of driver transfers upon us much earlier this year, there is speculation already that Sergio Perez may be replaced in 2025. Lewis Hamilton’s shock move to Ferrari has displaced Carlos Sainz, who in recent times has looked the better performer of the Scuderia team mates.

Sainz has recorded the only non-Red Bull Grand Prix victories in the past two seasons and it is said that Andreas Seidl who will head up the Audi F1 team is keen to sign the Spaniard. The German brand entering F1 in 2026 have already announced the recruitment of Nico Hulkenberg and are said to be keen to lock down their driver lineup starting next year. 

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Marko claims Sainz/Red Bull talks ongoing

To this end Carlos allegedly has until today to decide on the Audi offer before the team look elsewhere for a senior driver.

Apparently confirming this paddock rumour of Audi’s approach, Dr. Marko informed Austria’s Kleine Zeitung newspaper that indeed Carlos Sainz was of interest to Red Bull Racing.

“We’re talking to him, he’s having his strongest season in Formula One,” said the Austrian. “But he has a very lucrative offer from Audi that we can’t match or beat.”

Ahead of the Miami Grand Prix, Christian Horner has now dismissed the Austrian’s claims, calling the story about negotiations with the Spaniard ‘pure speculation’. He also argued it would be inappropriate to discuss contract talks publicly.

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Horner contradicts Marko’s claims

“We have no idea if and what Audi have offered Carlos, who’s a key driver on the open market, and so it’s only natural that there’s going to be significant interest,” he said in a press conference. “And I’m sure Audi would be foolish not to consider a driver of his quality amongst the others available.

“But it would be improper to disclose what offers are made. It’s something that’s not even been disclosed to us – as to what offers have been made from other teams.”

Sergio Perez is having a much better season and he appears to have the complete confidence of his team boss. When others were calling for Horner to resign, Checo spoke out on his behalf – claiming the rumours of a team in turmoil were just not true. It could be this loyalty along with less erratic results on track will be the deciding factor on whether Red Bull retain Sergio’s services for a fifth season, or entice Carlos Sainz to race once again alongside team mate Max Verstappen.

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Niggle over points difference

In terms of the Horner/Marko relationship, the Red Bull team boss is known to be against the latest proposal to increase the number of points paying positions in a Grand Prix. Yet this week in his column for Speedweek, Marko enthused about the idea stating: “Two classes have formed. If the drivers of the top five teams have no technical problems and Mr Stroll has a normal day, there are no points for the other five teams.

“The budget cap has brought the field closer together, leading to extremely exciting battles in the midfield. This should be rewarded somehow. If 10 drivers are fighting so hard but have no hope of getting a point, then maybe it is time to change something.”

At a recent meeting of the F1 commission it was proposed to extend awarding Grand Prix points down to P12, rather than the present P10. The matter was ‘postponed’ though reports have emerged that the new points system did not get the support of the five F1 teams it required.

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