Christian Horner breaks silence on the rumors of Red Bull power struggle between him and Helmut Marko
Christian Horner has now addressed all those rumors about there being a power struggle between him and Helmut Marko at Red Bull.
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Red Bull had been toiling hard to break Mercedes’ Constructors’ Championship-winning streak ever since they won the last title in 2013 thanks to Sebastian Vettel‘s masterful drive. In 2021, they were dangerously close to getting the top spot but it was still in the grabs of Mercedes despite Max Verstappen winning the World Drivers’ Championship title. And in 2022, at long last, Red Bull were back to the top of the rankings. And two of the most prominent faces who contributed heavily to get the team to this place are Team Boss Christian Horner and Chief Advisor Helmut Marko.
Both Horner and Marko can be somewhat termed as media darlings since they never shy away from speaking their minds on camera. But Marko’s words have, at times, landed him in trouble such as the time when he claimed RBR recruit Sergio Perez could not match Max Verstappen‘s speed due to his ethnicity. The 80-year-old came under heavy scrutiny from the fans for his racist comments and Christian Horner stayed silent at that time as he chose not to defend Marko.
There have also been rumors that have suggested Horner has wanted Marko out of the team ever since Red Bull’s forefather Dietrich Mateschiz passed away. This gave rise to the ‘Red Bull power struggle’ rumors between the two of them. But when asked about it directly at one of his interviews, Horner brushed off the rumors and said he finds ‘humor’ in them.
Something like that you have to take with a great deal of humour because, I mean, they’re so far wide of the mark. I think we’ve been around long enough and ugly enough to know not to believe everything you read.Christian Horner said about rumors of a rife between him and Helmut Marko.
Helmut Marko backed Christian Horner’s claim that Lewis Hamilton had approached Red Bull
While it is often Helmut Marko’s words that cause huge waves of rumors to roll out in the F1 world, Christian Horner became the source of speculation when he claimed Lewis Hamilton had come to him for a seat at Red Bull in early 2023. The Briton was backed by Marko as the octagenarian confirmed that the conversations with Lewis happened over text messages that he was informed about.
I can only say that Christian Horner told me in January about a text message he received from people around Hamilton. It seemed authorized by the driver.
But Lewis Hamilton completely denied ever seeking a seat at Red Bull despite Mercedes’ fall from grace as the last time he has won a race for the team has been in 2021. Horner then claimed it was Lewis’ father Anthony Hamilton who had approached him even though Antony stopped managing his son’s communications about decade ago. The matter died down after Horner addressed it at the Team Principals’ conference in Abu Dhabi where he admitted he never thought his simple statement would blow out of the park in the way it had.
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Riddhi Mondal
(1821 Articles Published)