Christian Horner's upcoming autobiography, Drive, is already causing massive shockwaves ahead of its 22 October release. According to Motorsport.com, the former Red Bull Racing team principal, who departed the Milton Keynes squad in 2025, used his book to drop several bombshells about his time at the top of Formula 1.
One of Christian Horner's most controversial claims centres around the signing of four-time World Champion Max Verstappen. According to Horner, former Red Bull Motorsport advisor Helmut Marko did not want a young Verstappen in the team at all, alleging that Verstappen's father, Jos Verstappen, had to play a decisive role to make the deal happen. But Marko isn't letting that narrative stand.
I brought Max into Formula 1 and had to beat Horner in his first race for Red Bull in Barcelona,
Speaking with the Austrian outlet oe24, Marko brushed off Horner's version of history. "I'm ignoring it as much as possible," Marko said. However, he quickly pointed to former Formula 1 driver and current Sky Sports expert Ralf Schumacher, who vehemently defended him. Ralf Schumacher recently slammed Christian Horner's book, aggressively describing Christian Horner's account of the Max Verstappen signing as "an absolute lie."
Schumacher recalled his version of events, explaining that Marko approached Max when he was just 11 and a half years old. At the time, Jos said it was still too early for him, and the doctor was a bit miffed and said it was so be it if they did not want to. Marko confirmed Schumacher's defence, expressing that the timing simply wasn't right during those early karting days.
In a final brutal counter-punch to Horner's claim, Marko insisted that it was actually Horner who tried to block Verstappen's historic promotion to the senior Red Bull squad in 2016. "I brought Max into Formula 1 and had to beat Horner in his first race for Red Bull in Barcelona," Helmut Marko recalled, referencing Max Verstappen's legendary debut victory at the 2016 Spanish Grand Prix. "He thought Max was too young, too inexperienced..."
With Horner's book Drive set to hit shelves in late October, this bitter war of words over who truly discovered the championship's most dominant modern driver is likely just getting started.
