Red Bull showing signs of cracks as Helmut Marko now targets Christian Horner for the team's struggles

Red Bull is starting to show signs of cracks, as even Helmut Marko has now targeted Christian Horner for the team's struggles. The reigning champions had the perfect start to the season, winning the first race in Bahrain. The team continued the momentum until the race in Miami when McLaren first introduced its major upgrade.

That upgrade has proven to be the point where things have started to go south for Red Bull. After Miami, in terms of performance, the Austrian team has been caught and has seen the gap it had over the competition diminish.

Since Max Verstappen's win in Barcelona, Red Bull has not won a single race and in the meantime, both McLaren and Mercedes have notched up multiple wins. This also comes in the backdrop of the team going through complete political turmoil early in the season, with Christian Horner on one side while Helmut Marko and Jos Verstappen on the other.

As the season has progressed, things appeared to calm down, but with Red Bull's receding form, the discontent is back. The team's loss of form has seen Helmut Marko now target Christian Horner and urge him to 'show quality'. Talking to Kronen Zeitung, Marko said (as quoted by "RacingNews365"),

"Horner has to show quality. Sugarcoating things won't help us in this situation. But Horner has also admitted mistakes. We took a wrong turn somewhere in terms of the balance of the car. But we're not the only ones - it's happened to Ferrari and Mercedes too. Only McLaren was spared, every upgrade worked for them."

He added,

"We are self-critical, but we have a lot of good people who can turn things around. The team has worked hard to find the best setup and balance for this old-school track. Of course, we have a tough job ahead of us. I think it will be very close between McLaren, Ferrari, Mercedes and us. One thing is certain: we will not be beaten as clearly as we were recently in Holland."

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Red Bull chief defends Jos Verstappen's outburst

The Red Bull chief also defended Jos Verstappen's outburst over the results after the Dutch GP after Max Verstappen finished second, behind Lando Norris. Max Verstappen's father, Jos, had lashed out at the lack of improvement within the team. After the race in Zandvoort, Jos said that the team needed to look in the mirror after the alarming rate at which the gap is being closed down in the championship.

Defending Jos Verstappen's rant, Marko claimed that the Dutchman was emotional, but also acknowledged that the team needed to make improvements to the car. Marko said (via the aforementioned source):

"Jos is Jos. He's just a very emotional guy and made his statements without a proper analysis. But that shouldn't be overestimated. We've had a few unfortunate results recently and were sometimes beaten below our potential. In Zandvoort, we had the wrong setup, but of course. We clearly feel the pressure, we have to improve and the updates have to have an effect."

With Christian Horner once again finding himself on one side while Helmut Marko and Jos Verstappen are on the other, it would be interesting to see what is next for Red Bull as the team looks as disjointed as it has ever been.