Inside Red Bull’s power battle: Helmut Marko tells his side of the story. Helmut Marko looks back on the internal power struggle at Red Bull.

The former Austrian adviser recounts Horner’s behaviour and the rise of the Austrian faction

The two factions

During the 2024 Formula 1 season, one of the most compelling off-track storylines was the internal power struggle within the Red Bull team. A clear division into two factions gradually became more and more evident. On one side was the Thai faction led by Red Bull shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya, with Christian Horner firmly aligned with it. On the other side stood the Austrian faction, represented above all by Red Bull’s sporting CEO Oliver Mintzlaff and long-time adviser Helmut Marko.

Horner reportedly attempted to push Marko out of the team, while Marko, in turn, tried to encourage Horner’s departure by leveraging the case involving alleged misconduct towards a female employee. For a time, the situation appeared to calm down dramatically, to the point that Christian Horner and Helmut Marko were often seen together again in public and around the paddock.

However, by the end of 2025 both Christian Horner and Helmut Marko were no longer part of the Red Bull Formula 1 team. In the end, Oliver Mintzlaff emerged as the sole winner of the internal battles that had shaped the power dynamics within the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

Helmut Marko’s behind-the-scenes account to De Limburger

Speaking to De Limburger, Helmut Marko offered his personal account of what happened behind the scenes. “The power struggle between me and Horner? That’s how the media described it, but there was nothing personal,” Marko explained. “Together with Didi Mateschitz, I founded Red Bull Racing in 2005. We appointed Horner as team principal and I was present as a supervisor. The power was always in Austria, we were the ones making the decisions.”

Helmut Marko then recalled a key moment that he believes marked a turning point. “I remember a party in 2022, before the Austrian Grand Prix. Didi was there, but he was not in good health. Christian came up to me and said: ‘He won’t make it to the end of the year.’ From that moment on, he began to build closer ties with Chalerm Yoovidhya.”

Continuing his account, Helmut Marko added: “When Didi passed away not long after, Horner did everything he could to take control of the team, with Yoovidhya’s support. And I, on behalf of the Austrian faction, did everything possible to stop that from happening. We were then able to prove that Horner was lying about everything, and when Chalerm realised this, he came to his senses.”

The revelations from Marko’s interview highlight how off-track politics can profoundly impact even the most successful F1 outfits, reminding English-speaking fans worldwide why Red Bull’s story remains one of the most compelling in modern motorsport.