30/07/2025 12:55
Helmut Marko has stated that Red Bull's decision to sack Christian
Horner was "mainly" based on the alarming drop in performance by
the team. Horner was dismissed as team principal and CEO on July
9th, bringing to an end his 20-year spell at the helm, with Laurent
Mekies replacing him. After its dominant 2023 season and start of
2024, when it won 28 out of 32 races, Red Bull has only won four
times in the last 27 races as Max Verstappen looks set to be
dethroned as world champion, currently 81 points behind leader
Oscar Piastri. In the constructors', Verstappen has 185 of the
team's 192 points, with Liam Lawson scoring none and Yuki Tsunoda
just seven during his time with the team thus far. Red Bull GmbH
motorsport advisor Marko has indicated that these performance woes
were the main reason behind Horner's dismissal, as he also faced,
and was cleared, by investigations of inappropriate behaviour,
which he denied. "Oliver Mintzlaff made the decision, we shared it
with Christian on the Tuesday after the Silverstone race, in
London," Marko told Sky DE. "We also immediately thanked him for
the past 20 years and the eight world titles. "[The sacking] was a
consequence of all kinds of things, but mainly because of the fact
that the performance was mostly not good recently. "Fortunately,
we were then able to appoint Laurent Mekies, although he will have
considerably fewer duties than Horner, and the main focus will be
on racing."
