Helmut Marko has accused Christian Horner of stuffing his book with “untruths” after the Austrian heard what the Briton has now said about his sacking by Red Bull in 2025.

Marko and Horner spent 20 years overseeing the Red Bull Racing system, with the former in charge of the prodigious Red Bull Junior Team production line and the latter guiding the race team. But the parent Red Bull GmbH company swung its axe in July 2025 and fired Horner.

Red Bull no longer believed that Horner was the right figure to act as their F1 CEO and team principal following a downturn in form and an internal fight for power with Marko and some figures within the Red Bull GmbH hierarchy. So, Red Bull moved Laurent Mekies across from sister team Racing Bulls to replace Horner, and are now locked in with Mekies through 2031.

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Many members of staff at Red Bull’s factory did not expect Horner’s sacking, which arrived just days after the 2025 British Grand Prix for which Marko stayed at the Briton’s house. He had led them to eight drivers’ titles and six constructors’ titles since Red Bull bought Jaguar from Ford, and also laid the foundations for Red Bull Powertrains’ engine division for 2026.

Now, 15 months of unemployment down the line, Horner is set to release a book in which he details his sacking from Red Bull. The 52-year-old also suggests it “hurt me” that he felt like Marko had worked “so hard” to convince Red Bull that he needed to be fired, after the pair had clashed for more than a year behind the scenes amid their fight for greater power.

Horner claims in his upcoming book Driven: “It hurt me that he worked so hard to get me fired, especially since my ex-partner and the mother of my daughter had recently passed away. He didn’t even offer his condolences… Helmut and I no longer have a relationship.”

It is reported that some at Red Bull felt Horner had seized too much power following the death of founder Dietrich Mateschitz. As well as being the CEO and team principal of the race team, Horner had overseen Red Bull Technologies and oversaw the creation of RBPT.

Marko, meanwhile, worked as the motorsport adviser to Red Bull GmbH (initially reporting to Dietrich Mateschitz, and later to Mark Mateschitz and Oliver Mintzlaff) and also led the Red Bull junior driver programme before ultimately deciding to retire at the close of 2025.

Horner and Marko were widely believed to have been fighting for power behind the scenes before they both ultimately left Red Bull in 2025. But Horner’s suggestion that Marko tried his hardest to convince Red Bull GmbH chiefs to fire him does not sit well with the Austrian.

In response to Horner’s accusation, Marko told BILD: “The book is a collection of untruths, which I don’t want to discuss in detail.”

This is not the first time that Marko has publicly hit out at one of Horner’s remarks from his book, either. When it emerged that the Briton has also suggested that the Austrian did not want Red Bull to sign Max Verstappen, Marko claimed Horner actually opposed Verstappen joining Red Bull in 2016, as the Briton felt the Dutchman was “too young” to join the team.

In the end, Marko claims he stood up to Horner and pushed through Verstappen’s promotion from their sister team (then called Toro Rosso) just 23 races into his Formula 1 career to take over from Daniil Kvyat. Verstappen then won the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona on his debut for Red Bull, and he has since gone on to win four titles with the Milton Keynes team.