Helmut Marko might have aimed a ‘post-race dig’ at Christian Horner with one Italian Grand Prix comment

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It’s safe to say that Helmut Marko and Christian Horner didn’t always see eye to eye during their time working together at Red Bull Racing.

When Red Bull first arrived on the grid in 2005, Christian Horner was at the helm as team principal, and Helmut Marko was looking after their young driver program.

Marko had been working alongside Red Bull for several years before this, running the likes of Juan Pablo Montoya, Enrique Bernoldi and Vitantonio Liuzzi in his personal junior team before it was taken over.

As Red Bull became more successful, Marko’s influence in the team grew, acting as the Austrian side of the business point of contact in the paddock.

Horner eventually lost the support of the Thai side of the Red Bull business, leading to his departure from the team.

Laurent Mekies has been promoted in his place and earned his first victory as Red Bull boss at the Italian Grand Prix thanks to Max Verstappen.

Marko’s influence has grown since Horner’s exit, and it’s likely that he’ll play a crucial role in deciding the make-up of Red Bull and Racing Bulls’ driver line-ups for 2026.

Journalist Matt Majendie has been working closely with the Red Bull camp all season, and wondered if Marko used Verstappen’s win at Monza to aim a sly dig at the team’s former chief.

READ MORE: Who is Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko? Everything to know

Helmut Marko’s potential Christian Horner ‘dig’ after Max Verstappen’s Italian Grand Prix win

Majendie was speaking on The Inside Track Podcast about the impact Mekies has had at Red Bull since taking over from Horner.

He explained after Verstappen’s win at Monza: “A pretty good opener for him.

“But to pull off that win, and they’ve been very clear, Helmut Marko has post-race has talked about this is the Mekies effect. This is having an engineer in the team.

“This is having someone who is willing to have those conversations and push the thing.

“Whether he’s just doing a little post-race dig at Christian Horner there. I don’t know.

“But clearly, Laurent Mekies has had quite an influence. Interestingly, though, Mekies, when asked about his influence, said, “How big a part did he play? He said zero, which I thought was really cool.

“And then mentioned the 1500, 2000 members of staff that have worked to make this possible. He should take zero credit, which I think is quite a good play from him.”

READ MORE: All to know on sacked Red Bull team principal Christian Horner with net worth

Laurent Mekies pinpoints Yuki Tsunoda’s issue as Helmut Marko’s next big decision looms

Marko has never been someone to mince his words in interviews and has made his feelings about plenty of Red Bull drivers over the years.

After the race, Marko suggested Red Bull made the ‘right decision’ to sack Horner and employ Mekies due to his engineering background, something that many other teams on the grid have already done in recent years.

Marko will soon go back to making decisions on drivers’ futures, and Yuki Tsunoda is the man under the spotlight right now.

In his official post-race interview at Monza, Mekies explained: “Yuki was unfortunate today; he was stuck in traffic and it was very difficult for him to get anything out of the race.

“Then he had damage to his floor after his contact with Liam, which cost him performance.

“We have more work to do to help Yuki with his race pace, and we will be pushing to get him in the right place as we progress.”

Tsunoda is ‘running out of time’ to convince Red Bull to keep him, with his contract set to expire at the end of the season.

It will be interesting if Mekies has a different approach to Horner and gives the Japanese driver more time, or if Red Bull’s typically abrupt decision-making process is set to continue.