Helmut Marko lashes out at Christian Horner: 'An embarrassment'

Helmut Marko has accused Christian Horner of poor taste for releasing his autobiography Drive on 22 October, the fourth anniversary of Dietrich Mateschitz's death.

The former Red Bull advisor branded the timing "an embarrassment" and dismissed the book's contents as a "low-calibre" collection of untruths, though he declined to engage with its specific allegations.

Horner's memoir, published today, has reopened one of Formula 1's bitterest internal feuds.

In it, the former Red Bull principal accuses Marko of leaking sensitive intellectual and operational details to the press, claiming Adrian Newey grew so frustrated by the disclosures that senior staff began withholding information from Marko in meetings.

Horner also recounts the moment of his own dismissal in 2025, alleging Marko stood alongside Oliver Mintzlaff and repeated the corporate line "it's about the can" when explaining the decision.

'Low-calibre' claims

Speaking to Krone, Marko refused to pick through the book point by point: "That's a collection of untruths of such a low calibre that I won't address them."

He did, however, want to correct one specific claim.

"I only want to correct one claim: that I did indeed offer my condolences after the death of his ex-partner Beverly," he said whilst — according to Krone — showing the corresponding message on his phone.

Horner had written in Drive that Marko never reached out after Beverly's passing last year, during what he described as an already painful period, as Marko worked to have him removed from Red Bull. Horner called the lack of contact "not very classy" at the time.

The rift between the pair traces back to the power struggle that followed Mateschitz's death in October 2022, which split the team between Horner's camp, backed by majority shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya, and Marko's Austrian faction.

Horner has since described all contact with Marko as having gone silent since his final day at the factory, insisting their parting handshake was the last word exchanged between them.

Marko added: "And the fact that the book is being published on the very day Dietrich Mateschitz died is an embarrassment."