Helmut Marko took a ‘mischievous’ shot at Christian Horner straight after Max Verstappen won US GP

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Laurent Mekies may be hurting Christian Horner’s stock at Red Bull. If Max Verstappen goes on to win the drivers’ championship, having ruled himself out of contention under Horner, then that doesn’t necessarily paint a positive picture of the Briton’s leadership.

When Horner was sacked after the British GP, Verstappen, who had just fallen from pole to fifth at Silverstone, was 79 points behind Oscar Piastri. Seven races later, the gap is down to 40.

In that time, Verstappen has won three Grands Prix and two Sprints. Red Bull looked destined to finish fourth in the constructors’, but now they’re just 10 points off second (having previously been 50 adrift).

Horner signed off on the floor upgrade that arrived at Monza and has helped transform the season, and Mekies has repeatedly eschewed any credit. But the optics aren’t particularly favourable, particularly as the former tries to find his way back into the paddock.

Helmut Marko says ‘everything was different’ at Red Bull under Christian Horner

Speaking to De Limburger after Sunday’s race, Verstappen’s performance engineer Tom Hart said: “We should have done that sooner, right?”

He wishes it hadn’t taken the team until after the summer break to truly hit form. Verstappen is no longer an outsider in the title fight, but he has much smaller margin for error than Piastri or Lando Norris.

When Hart’s comments were put to Helmut Marko just after the podium ceremony, he responded with a ‘mischievous’ smile and a remark that was clearly directed at Horner.

“Let’s just say that a while ago, everything was different at Red Bull Racing,” he said.

It’s ‘common knowledge’ in the paddock that Marko and Horner ‘had been on bad terms’ for the last four years. The Austrian prevailed in their behind-the-scenes power struggle and clearly feels vindicated.

Red Bull’s ‘ridiculous’ decision could help Christian Horner buy another team

One rival team principal, who was speaking off the record, says the atmosphere at Red Bull has improved since Horner left. This may be one of the reasons behind their upturn.

Marko has also praised Mekies repeatedly for taking a driver-led approach to strategic decisions, as well as car set-up. Under the previous regime, they were led more by the engineers and the data.

Red Bull gave Horner an enormous compensation package when finalising his departure, recognising that his contract still had almost five years left to run. That fee, labelled ‘ridiculous’ by Christijan Albers, could now help him buy a stake in another team, or even take over outright.

Horner already has financial backers in place, and is allowed to return to work from next spring under his agreement with Red Bull.