Ralf Schumacher blasts Christian Horner for 'tearing Red Bull apart'

Former F1 racer turned pundit Ralf Schumacher has said that former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner 'tore the team apart'.

Horner was the boss of Red Bull Racing between 2005-2025, before being axed earlier this year with Red Bull down in fourth in the constructors' championship.

He was replaced by Laurent Mekies, with the team taking on a much more harmonious feel since Mekies took over, and Max Verstappen was able to challenge for the drivers' championship in the second half of the season.

Following the end of the 2025 season, however, more drama has unfolded within the Red Bull outfit, with long-time motorsport advisor Helmut Marko leaving his role and opting to release an explosive interview about the final few years under Horner's leadership.

Marko alleged that Horner was 'lying about everything', and alleged that he tried to 'takeover' the team following the death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz, something that Marko said he stopped 'on behalf of Austria'.

Now, Schumacher has had his say about Horner, whose final two seasons saw the team finish third in the constructors' championship before being down in fourth midway through 2025.

"Horner practically tore the team apart," Schumacher told the Backstage Boxengasse podcast. "Red Bull fought its way towards mediocrity. For a while, nothing worked at all."

Schumacher also suggested that Marko's comments about Horner, while "not entirely elegant," were justified: "He's right," the German said.

"Helmut has lost some of his position because he's no longer needed there. But we're sorry about it because we value his honest and open nature. And he's landing on a soft surface."

What did Marko say about Horner?

After confirming his retirement from Red Bull after the 2025 season, Marko issued an interview with De Telegraaf about the ins and outs of his relationship with Horner.

He claimed that the Brit changed following the death of Mateschitz in 2022. His full comments were as follows: "Together with Didi [Mateschitz], I founded Red Bull Racing in 2005," Marko said. "We appointed Horner as team principal, and I was there as an overseer.

"The power was always essentially in Austria; we were the ones calling the shots. I remember a party in 2022 before the Austrian Grand Prix. Didi was there, but not in good health. Christian came to me and said, 'He won't make it to the end of the year.'

"From that moment on, he started getting friendly with Chalerm Yoovidhya. When Didi passed away later that year, he did everything he could to take over with Yoovidhya's support. I did everything I could on behalf of 'Austria' to prevent that.

"We were increasingly able to prove that Horner was lying about everything under the sun," Marko continued. "Once Chalerm [Yoovidhya, co-owner of Red Bull GmbH] realised this, he came to his senses.

"But 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. Because Max stepped up to the plate in Jeddah, it didn't happen."

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