Christian Horner makes heartbreaking accusation against Helmut Marko

Christian Horner has given a bleak account of the end of his long working relationship with Helmut Marko, with whom he was colleagues at Red Bull for two decades.

The Brit was brutally frank about his current relationship with the long-time Red Bull advisor, telling German newspaper Bild simply: "We don't have one."

Horner also claimed that it 'got to him' that Marko was very involved in his removal from the team in the wake of his former partner's death, not even offering his consolations for the loss.

The former team principal was relieved of his duties at Red Bull just a handful of days after the death of Beverley Allen, the mother of his daughter.

Allen and Horner were together for some 14 years, with their daughter being born in October 2013. The pair split shortly afterwards, with Horner getting engaged to Geri Halliwell (now Geri Halliwell-Horner) in November 2014. They were widely reported to have a good relationship despite their split, raising their daughter together.

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Horner: That wasn't exactly the done thing

Asked about the last time he spoke to Marko, Horner revealed that it was on his last day at Red Bull, shortly after Allen's death from eye cancer.

“On my last day at Red Bull," he said, "the two of us sat in my office and shook hands at the end. There’s been radio silence ever since. But that’s fine too.

"It really got to me that he was so actively involved in getting me sacked, whilst my ex-partner and the mother of my daughter had passed away shortly before. He didn’t even offer his condolences. That wasn’t exactly the done thing.”

Horner admits: 'I owe him a great deal'

He did admit that he owes Marko a great deal for their prior work together and getting him in the door at Red Bull, admitting that the pair's relationship finally fractured after the death of Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022.

"Helmut and I worked side by side for 20 years," he said.

"I owe him a great deal because he stood up for me with Dietrich back then, when it came to appointing a man in his early 30s as team principal. But over time, our relationship became more difficult. The break came with Dietrich's death."

The new Red Bull almost unrecognisable

The departures of Horner and Marko (who himself left at the end of 2025) from Red Bull were part of a massive talent dream which has seen almost of the key figures from their glory years depart.

Adrian Newey, Rob Marshall and Jonathan Wheatley are also no longer with the team, while Max Verstappen's long-time race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase is due to join McLaren not later than 2028.

The signs though are promising that the good times are about to return under Horner's replacement Laurent Mekies, with Verstappen winning back-to-back races in Bahrain (held in Malaysia) and Singapore.

The Dutchman has also ended speculation about his future by signing a new contraction extension through 2030.

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