Helmut Marko once went over Christian Horner’s head to drop one Red Bull F1 driver

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Helmut Marko gained a reputation for being notoriously harsh on Red Bull Racing’s drivers over the years, and in particular, the youngsters coming through the ranks.

The majority of drivers who race for Red Bull do a stint with their sister outfit, Racing Bulls, first after years of intense scrutiny in the junior team.

Isack Hadjar is the latest driver to be promoted to Red Bull in this manner after a brilliant rookie campaign.

Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen are the most obvious success stories, although drivers previously backed by Red Bull are dotted up and down the grid.

Not every driver selected to reach Formula 1 by Helmut Marko worked out, and while he’s remained on the grid in 2026, Liam Lawson’s two-race stint with Red Bull can’t be seen as anything but a failure.

Scott Speed never scored a Formula 1 point during his time at Toro Rosso, and Vitantonio Liuzzi’s seat-sharing situation with Christian Klien during the team’s debut campaign ended with the Italian sitting out for the majority of the campaign.

Journalists Scott Mitchell-Malm and Edd Straw were discussing some of Marko’s decisions after his Red Bull exit was confirmed, and admitted that Pierre Gasly’s demotion midway through the 2019 campaign was made without Christian Horner’s final sign-off.

READ MORE: Everything you need to know about former Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko

Helmut Marko demoted Pierre Gasly from Red Bull without Christian Horner’s sign-off

It’s no secret that Marko and Horner didn’t always see eye-to-eye, and in the 2019 F1 season, the issue arose once again.

Speaking on The Race F1 Podcast, Mitchell-Malm said: “Marko was the decision maker.

“He had the power to hire and fire drivers. How was it always put? When they dropped Pierre Gasly in the summer of 2019 and promoted Alex Albon.

“I remember being in Red Bull hospitality, and Horner said, well, we all had a conversation about it.

“But, it’s Dietrich’s [Mateschitz] decision at the end of the day. But I think Mateschitz’s decision was Marko’s decision.”

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Straw added: “And Helmut Marko was Dietrich Mateschitz’s Vicar on Earth; he was his man.

“Now, actually, there were times when Mateschitz would overrule him a bit.

“When they changed [Sebastien] Buemi and [Jaime] Alguersuari suddenly, my understanding is that it was Mateschitz rather than Marko because it became clear to him they didn’t have a future pathway into Red Bull Racing.

“So he thought, what’s the point? Let’s get what [Daniel] Ricciardo and [Jean-Eric] Vergne in.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

Pierre Gasly was ‘shocked’ by Red Bull demotion as Daniel Ricciardo decision paid off

Gasly is now a Grand Prix race winner, and despite Alpine’s awful 2025, he scored 100% of the team’s points this year.

Speaking to Formula 1’s official website in 2019, he said of his demotion: “It was at 8.42. It was the morning [when Marko called him during the summer break].

“And yeah, of course, it was kind of a shock that it happened, as it was not what I had been told before Budapest. I think everything was pretty clear and discussed over the last few weeks.”

The Frenchman only managed 12 races alongside Verstappen before losing his seat to Alex Albon, and scored his only podium that year after re-joining Toro Rosso.

The decision to swap out Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari for Daniel Ricciardo and Jean-Eric Vergne was less straightforward.

Ricciardo’s move has to be considered a success as a multiple race winner, but whether Red Bull would have been better off persevering with Buemi over Vergne is a more interesting debate.

The more prominent question will be how does Red Bull’s decision-making surrounding their drivers changes now that Marko has departed.

Lindblad, Lawson and Hadjar will hope that they’re given more time to prove themselves, while the likes of Nikola Tsolov, Oliver Goethe and new reserve driver Yuki Tsunoda will be hoping Laurent Mekies is just as brutal as Marko.