Marko goes ruthless, pins Verstappen’s title loss on Horner: 'I’m convinced'

Speaking in an interview, the 82-year-old, who recently departed from Red Bull Racing outfit, stressed that the team needed to take action due to its underwhelming on-track performance. He added that if Horner’s departure had come sooner, Verstappen would have secured the 2025 Drivers’ Championship.

“We had to do something because our on-track performance was lagging. Had we done that sooner, by the way, we would have gotten things back on track faster this year, and Max would have become World Champion. I'm absolutely convinced of that,” Marko said via De Limburger.

Doubling down on his scathing assessment of the former Red Bull team principal, Marko stated that several comments attributed to him during Horner’s stint at the Milton Keynes-based outfit were fabricated.

“But those last years with Horner weren't pleasant. Dirty tricks were played. Do you remember me saying, back in the Sergio Perez era, that Mexicans are less focused than the Dutch or Germans? That was fabricated, perhaps even by them,” he added.

Giving another example of such fabricated comments, Marko added:

“Just like I supposedly said in 2024 that our engine development was behind schedule and that we would therefore lose Ford as our sponsor. I never said that, but Horner wanted to use that to get me suspended. Because Max stepped up to the plate in Jeddah, it didn't happen.”

Horner saw his over two-decade stint at the Red Bull team come to an unceremonious end after he was shown the exit days following the British Grand Prix.

The 52-year-old’s sacking came amid a dip in performance at Red Bull, among other off-track happenings that reportedly impacted the team.

Earlier, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff stated that Horner’s power-thirsty nature played a part in his exit from Red Bull.

The Austrian highlighted the Brit’s power-hogging tendencies as pivotal in the several incidents that led to his eventual dismissal.

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