Christian Horner and Helmut Marko have been with Red Bull since their inaugural race.
Helmut Marko has said a “truce” has been reached with Christian Horner and Red Bull will “combine all our forces” to continue winning races this season.
The internal investigation into Horner for alleged inappropriate behaviour by Red Bull GmbH was dismissed earlier this year, but claims of a behind-the-scenes ‘power struggle’ persisted between Horner and senior advisor Marko – though Horner had publicly denied any falling out between the pair.
Helmut Marko reaches ‘truce’ with Christian Horner at Red Bull
With Horner as team principal and CEO of Red Bull Racing, Marko reports directly to parent company Red Bull GmbH in his role rather than the team – meaning both men are in senior roles within the Red Bull organisation and neither report to each other.
There were doubts regarding Marko’s future with the team before the season commenced, but he later made it clear that he would continue in his current role.
Marko expressed that, as their competitors are catching up, both he and the team principal are collaboratively striving for the team’s advantage after Red Bull’s once commanding position has been diminished.
“We have reached a truce,” Marko told Austrian publication Kronen Zeitung in relation to Horner.
Despite no longer holding superiority, our goal remains the same – to emerge victorious. We shall unite all our forces towards this pursuit.
However, our goal is to fully capitalize on this opportunity and set our sights on winning the World Championship title.
Looking ahead to the Canadian Grand Prix this weekend
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According to Marko, Red Bull’s dominance in the season’s early stages is being challenged as McLaren and Ferrari have been making significant progress recently.
At this stage of the regulation cycle, he reiterated his previous statements about teams copying elements of Red Bull’s designs, which he considers to be a natural occurrence.
The first three races no longer hold our dominant position as the competition has caught up in the third year of the current regulations. They have not only replicated our strategies but even made improvements. Innovation opportunities have become scarce.
“There is no shame in this; it is merely a natural progression based on logic.”
In Monaco, Red Bull faced difficulties trying to keep up with Ferrari and McLaren. Marko concurred with Max Verstappen’s observation that the RB20 seems to have trouble with riding over kerbs.
As a result, due to Canada having equivalent kerb profiles, he holds the belief that the team should not be regarded as winners-elect in Montréal this weekend.
According to Marko, “Ferrari outperforms us in terms of top speed. In reality, we are not heading to Canada as the favored team.”
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