Christian Horner sets record straight on Helmut Marko’s Adrian Newey comments

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has set the record straight after Helmut Marko's recent comments about Adrian Newey and Yuki Tsunoda.

The Red Bull motorsport advisor claimed that Tsunoda's crash with then-team-mate Pierre Gasly during the 2022 British Grand Prix led Newey to block the driver's promotion from the sister team to the Milton Keynes outfit.

"For a long time, Yuki had the image of not performing consistently and making silly mistakes here and there. That's what happened last year in Mexico, where the decisive phase for us began," Marko told Kleine Zeitung.

"With Lawson, it was the exact opposite at first: he came on and delivered straight away, no matter how great the pressure was. In retrospect, however, it wasn't the right decision.

"In general, however, a lot can be traced back to a single incident. At Silverstone, Tsunoda once drove into Pierre Gasly's car, and parts of the cars on the track damaged the underbody of Verstappen's car, which cost him the race. Adrian Newey was furious at the time.

"From that point on, Yuki was a red rag to him. But now Newey is gone, and Yuki has worked hard on himself."

Adrian Newey, Chief Technology Officer, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Alexander Trienitz

However, Newey's wife Amanda took to social media to argue that he was on garden leave from the team when they decided to not promote the Japanese driver at the end of 2024. Horner has since addressed the situation while speaking on the Sky Sports F1 broadcast in Suzuka. He clarified:

“Adrian wasn’t involved in drivers certainly for this year.

“I think from the comments I saw that Helmut was referring to an incident back in 2022 at Silverstone. Adrian had no input into our driver selection for this year.” 

Newey announced that he was leaving the team he had spent almost two decades with ahead of the 2024 Miami Grand Prix. After taking some time to consider his future, he signed with Aston Martin. While Newey was on garden leave, Red Bull decided to replace Sergio Perez, and ultimately decided that rookie Liam Lawson was the best choice to drive alongside Max Verstappen. 

However, by the third round of the 2025 season, the team has swapped Lawson with Tsunoda in the top squad.