In his autobiography, Christian Horner settles scores with Helmut Marko and Jos Verstappen – Ralf Schumacher is highly critical of this: “You don’t settle scores like that”
Christian Horner’s autobiography “Drive” is due to be published on 22 October, and although little is known about its contents so far, it’s safe to assume that parts of the book will also serve as a settling of scores. With “old acquaintances” such as Helmut Marko, for instance – Red Bull GmbH’s long-standing motorsport consultant – or Jos Verstappen, Max’s father.
Horner recently gave an interview to *The Times* as part of the promotional campaign for his book, and the London-based newspaper apparently had the opportunity to read it in advance. According to the report, Horner describes Marko as “abrupt, unpredictable, cold, unreliable, ruthless and, at heart, disloyal” – a puppet-master lacking empathy and with an “urge to air internal matters in public”.
The report also states that Marko’s “polarising favouritism towards individual drivers has harmed the team”. Horner explains in the interview: “That’s not how I would have handled things. I felt like I was constantly having to mop up the mess.”
He characterises Jos Verstappen as an impatient troublemaker, and Horner claims that even Marko is said to have once remarked: “The father is a nightmare. We don’t need him.” This would come as a surprise to many if it were actually true; after all, Marko and the Verstappens were on the best of terms recently, whilst a power struggle raged at Red Bull over control of the team.
What Ralf Schumacher says about Horner’s claim
Sky pundit Ralf Schumacher comments on this in the ‘Backstage Boxengasse’ podcast: “As I understand the story, Max Verstappen was approached by Dr Helmut Marko at the tender age of eleven and a half. And back then, Jos actually said: ‘ That’s too early for me, I don’t want that – not now, at this stage.’ And then the Doctor, as we know him, got a bit miffed and said: ‘Okay, if you don’t want me, then so be it.’”
“But then, years later, they reached out to each other again in Formula 3, and they’ve been a united front ever since. […] It was clear who the Verstappen family were backing throughout the whole row, when Christian Horner was trying to take control of the team. […] I don’t know what’s going on in his head,” says Schumacher.
This is how Horner settles the score with Marko in his book
Horner describes Marko’s behaviour in the summer of 2025 as particularly lacking in empathy, when Red Bull terminated his contract and ultimately sacked the successful team principal. Marko is said to have “stayed at my house just a few days earlier and spent time with my family”, “and yet not a single word had been said about it”.
In an interview with The Times, Horner adds: “If you look back, he was the one who originally gave me this opportunity. He saw something in me that he liked, and he introduced me to Dietrich [Mateschitz]. But towards the end – and certainly after Dietrich’s death – he didn’t really have a role anymore. I think he always regarded me as his protégé. But I’d long since moved beyond that stage.”
Ralf Schumacher finds it “simply a shame” that Horner appears to be launching a broadside against former colleagues in his book: “You don’t hold a grudge like that. I don’t know why he feels he has to do this now. […] What Red Bull did for him, the opportunity he was given back then, what Didi Mateschitz made of him – you mustn’t forget that. And I think he’s trampling all over it.”
