"All success comes from Helmut Marko": Former F1 driver snubs Christian Horner and attributes Red Bull programme's success to the Austrian

Former F1 driver Christian Albers has attributed the Red Bull driver program's success to Helmut Marko and snubbed the role Christian Horner played.. The entire saga involving Horner has evolved over time and taken a completely different shape.

It all began as an investigation against the Brit for cross-border behavior against a fellow employee. The entire dynamics have now changed as the saga is being viewed as a political power battle at Red Bull, with the entire team split into two parts.

What has been remarkable in all of this is the fact that while the team continues to dominate on the track, the off-track shenanigans have caught everyone's eye. After the second race in Jeddah, it did appear that there was a split between two factions at Red Bull, with Horner on one side and Max Verstappen, his father, and Helmut Marko on the other.

In a podcast for The Telegraph's Dutch outfit, former F1 driver Christian Albers weighed in on where Red Bull stands at the moment. Talking about the team's success, especially the driver program, Albers attributed the success to Helmut Marko, as he said:

“If you start looking very realistically, which drivers did he put in the car and which drivers did Dr Marko put in the car? Looking at success, with all due respect, all success comes from Marko. So if you really start looking at who has a view on talent, there is absolutely no debate on that. That’s just Dr Marko, who has always made the right choices.”

Christian Horner continues to reassert his authority at Red Bull

Red Bull boss Christian Horner, however, continued to reassert his authority on the team. After Max Verstappen and Helmut Marko had talked about their potential departure from the team post-qualifying in Jeddah, Horner did try to call his driver's bluff later in the race weekend.

Asserting that while Max and Horner were part of the team, he led the team, Horner said:

“I think that there’s probably too much said already by other parties. The team is the team, Max is part of the team, Helmut is part of the team, I lead this team, and everybody has a key role to play.”

The Austrian squad is in a precarious position at this stage. The team has been split into two parts, with both of them sending conflicting messages to the media. Whether all of the off-track shenanigans end up spilling over onto the track is still unknown but it will be interesting to keep an eye on what happens next in Australia.