Dr. Helmut Marko talking with Christian Horner and Sergio Pérez — Photo: © LAT Images

F1 News & Gossip

Horner pinpoints BLAME after Red Bull feud rumours

Christian Horner believes the media exacerbated reports of a feud within Red Bull

Shay Rogers

Wednesday 6 December 2023 19:27

Christian Horner has once again denied rumours that there is an ongoing feud between himself and Helmut Marko atop the Red Bull hierarchy - pinning the blame on the media for concocting stories there is 'nothing to'.

For several months towards the back end of the 2023 F1 season, reports had emerged that Horner and Marko's relationship was straining.

In October, Brazilian sources stirred speculation by suggesting that Horner might have been involved in a purported attempt to remove 80-year-old Marko, who has been advising the reigning world champions since 2005.

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Nevertheless, both Marko and Horner emphatically denied the existence of any such plans.

Now, Horner has again affirmed that there is no rift between him and his longstanding colleague and that the reports are entirely false.

Christian Horner joined the Red Bull team in 2005

Red Bull have celebrated plenty of success with the experienced Christian Horner at the helm

Horner: Feud reports are wide of the mark

He says that mistranslations and mischievous attempts at stirring trouble within the F1 media are to blame for the rumours.

“Something like that you have to take with a great deal of humour because, I mean, they’re so far wide of the mark,” he told PlanetF1.

“But, unfortunately, the world that we live in, somebody writes something on an obscure Brazilian website and, by the time it is translated into four different languages, it suddenly becomes… it takes a traction of its own and, quite often, there’s absolutely nothing to these stories.

Helmut Marko has been an advisor to Red Bull since 2005

“Helmut and I have known each other for 27 years. We’ve always had a very strong and open relationship. So, on that, nothing has changed. The thing about the relationship is that you don’t have a relationship through the media.”

Addressing the rumours himself in October, Marko similarly denied any rift between the pair.

Speaking to OE24, he said: "Contrary to many assumptions I have to disappoint the, as they say, doomsayers.

"There is no summit. I have a contract until the end of next year. When and how I stop, when it's over, I decide and not, for example, Mr. Horner.”

Red Bull Christian Horner Helmut Marko Ralf Schumacher