How F1's most bitter battle of 2025 was fought off track

Christian Horner was axed from Red Bull in July and almost overnight the dark cloud and reputation that surrounded the Formula 1 team started to lift.

I mean that on-the-track as well as off it, as a team that had scored only 172 points after the halfway point of the season at the British Grand Prix posted another 279 once Laurent Mekies rolled up his sleeves and got to work fixing a battered brand.

Ultimately, a season that looked doomed once Verstappen fell over 100 points behind the summit of the drivers' standings in August nearly turned into one of F1's best ever comebacks.

Max Verstappen's second half of the season surge taking him to a tantalising two points of new world champion Lando Norris after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix finale this month.

Once Red Bull turfed out Christian Horner in July like he was debris from a wheelbarrow, it was seen as a huge shock across the paddock. In hindsight though, many are now thinking why didn't they do it sooner?

Helmut Marko vs Christian Horner

Helping play the role of Captain Hindsight, Helmut Marko claims that had Red Bull axed Horner sooner, Max Verstappen would be a five-time champion.

He told, De Telegraaf: "We had to do something because our on-track performance was lagging. 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."

Prior to Horner's dismissal, Red Bull had been on a downward spiral since their total domination pretty much collapsed around the start of the 2024 season - which coincided with Horner's alleged 'inappropriate behaviour' that he denied and was found not guilty off after an internal investigation.

What's important here is that the Horner allegations muddied the Red Bull image and seemed to come from a leak of some sort, hoping to drop Horner into a huge mess that would effect not just his work life but his home life too with wife Geri Horner-Halliwell.

Max Verstappen turns on Horner

Horner had many enemies at Red Bull at this point, including Marko (and by extension of that Max Verstappen) as well his No 1 driver's dad Jos.

Marko claimed that following the death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022, Horner did 'everything he could to take over with Red Bull's majority shareholder and billionaire Thai businessman Chalerm Yoovidhya's support'. Marko fought against it.

It seemed like Horner couldn't cling on into the summer of 2024 given the allegations around him but he survived a coup to retain his place as team principal - but at a cost as an exodus of talent headed for the exit door including key designer Adrian Newey and pit-team manager Jonathan Wheatley.

Red Bull 'dirty tricks' spark turmoil

Previously in late 2023, and now in the post-Mateschitz era, Marko found himself in hot water after some controversial comments on Sergio Perez, saying after the Italian Grand Prix: "We know that he has problems in qualifying, he has fluctuations in form, he is South American and he is just not as completely focused in his head as Max [Verstappen] is or as Sebastian [Vettel]," for which he later apologised.

Marko now blames these comments on 'dirty tricks' from his Red Bull enemies, saying: "Those last years with Horner weren't pleasant. Dirty tricks were played.

"Do you remember me saying, back in the Sergio Perez era, that Mexicans are less focused than the Dutch or Germans? That was fabricated, perhaps even by them. Just like I supposedly said in 2024 that our engine development was behind schedule and that we would therefore lose Ford as our sponsor. I never said that, but Horner wanted to use that to get me suspended."

Horner's fragile foundations were being held up by Yoovidhya, and Marko is convinced that it was only once Horner's alleged 'lies' were exposed did Yoovidhya decide to dispense with the team boss of 20 years.

McLaren's intra-battle between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri might have been one of the biggest stories in 2025, but it was fuelled up by pathetic conspiracy theories.

The real civil war that 2025 should be remembered by is the one in Red Bull. Horner vs Marko, a manic story of control that amongst it lays the ashes of Verstappen's championship reign.

Would Red Bull have won the title had Horner gone sooner? Who knows? What we do know is Red Bull gained absolutely nothing from keeping on Horner one full year longer than they should have - and the team suffered greatly because of it.

READ MORE: Christian Horner 'Red Bull takeover' plan revealed

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