Christian Horner’s sacking by Red Bull might have come as a shock to some, but cracks continued to show just a few weeks ago, after comments about its 2026 Formula 1 car that “surprised” Helmut Marko.
Despite numerous media reports over the last 18 months regarding fractures in the relationship between Horner and some of the team’s hierarchy, the decision to fire the 51-year-old still seemed to come like a bolt from the blue.
However, signs continued to show that all was not entirely well within the Milton Keynes-based squad.
Horner had recently been vocal on the prospects for the team next year, in which F1 sees new rules threaten to shake up the order.
Red Bull’s in-house powertrains division is teaming up with Ford for a new engine, and Horner set the bar low, jibing that Mercedes should be “embarrassed” if it were less competitive than them.
Horner had previously told talkSPORT that the new regulations, and its partnership with Ford, would give the team “by far our biggest challenge in the sport.”
These remarks took the team’s advisor Marko aback, saying it was a contradiction of the language he used behind closed doors.
“I was also surprised when I read that,” he said. “Internally, he speaks differently.
“We are within the limits with our engine and believe that we currently have no significant disadvantage.”
Red Bull’s ‘poaching’ of personnel gives it a chance
Marko’s sense of confidence compared to that of Horner’s comes amid a sense of the unknown for every team, not just Red Bull.
The Austrian pointed out that it is a level playing field in the sense that the new rules apply to every team, and they will also face the same problems, revealing that the team has managed to secure the services of new personnel, giving them a potential edge.
“The other manufacturers also have to build completely new engines for next year,” he said.
“We have experienced people, and we have poached a large number of them from established companies.”
However, Marko was wary of what is to come, bringing a reminder that the last time there was a big regulation change in F1, Mercedes were the ones that dominated a large chunk of it.
“That [the new rules] could bring surprises,” he said. “I don’t hope that one of the engine manufacturers will be as superior as Mercedes was in 2014.”
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