Helmut Marko on why Red Bull chose Christian Horner as the team principal

Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko recently talked about how and why the Austrian team decided to hire Christian Horner as their team principal. He recalled how Horner was hired and Red Bull Racing founder Dietrich Mateschitz's take on the Brit at the time.

Back in 2004, Mateschitz-led Red Bull acquired a struggling Jaguar F1 team for just $1, entering the single-seater sport in 2005. The young team quickly made their mark by being a driver- and constructor-winning team in just five years. Since the team's inception, it has been led by Christian Horner.

Speaking to GRANDPRIX247, Helmut Marko recalled how Horner used to work in a Red Bull-sponsored Formula 3000 junior team named Arden International. Based on Horner's work on the team, Marko had gauged the latter's ability to become a competent leader in higher motorsport teams.

“At that time, we had a junior team and we put Antonio Liuzzi into the [Arden] team run by Horner. We won with him the Formula 3000 championship. I saw how he worked, how structured he was and so on," Marko said.

Marko also recalled that when he told Mateschitz about Horner in 2005, when the Red Bull F1 team was formed, the team founder was not too keen on the young Brit.

Hence, the now-former Haas team principal Guenther Steiner was hired by the Austrian team as an operations director, alongside Christian Horner. Marko concluded that after the first few races, Horner's suitability to lead the team on his own had become clear enough.

“When we bought Jaguar practically for one dollar or one pound, I don’t know exactly which currency… The boss [Dietrich Mateschitz] said we want to do it differently. And I said okay, but I have a young guy without F1 experience. So Didi wasn’t really convinced. That’s why we took [Gunther] Steiner, who had some experience with Jaguar before. Pretty soon it showed who was more suitable than who,” he continued.

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Helmut Marko labels Christian Horner's Red Bull accusations saga as 'unpleasant'

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko talked about how the allegations against Christian Horner for inappropriate behavior affected the Austrian team.

Back in February, Horner was accused of inappropriate behavior by a female employee of the team. The Austrian team's parent company investigated the matter, clearing the Brit of any charges. However, the saga continued as alleged messages between Horner and a female employee were leaked to journalists. Eventually, the situation cooled down as the 2024 F1 season progressed.

Speaking to Sky Sports in March, Marko stated that though there was tension within the team, the reigning world champions managed to pull themselves up and perform well in the Bahrain GP, the first race of 2024.

"It wasn't pleasant, but we concentrated on the sport, and thank God, that worked out perfectly. We saw today how the team showed an incredible performance. The strategy, the pit stops - everything worked. We assume that our strength and cohesion will remain intact," Marko said.

As of now, there have not been any major developments in the Christian Horner-Red Bull relationship. He continues to act as the team principal for the Milton-Keynes outfit.