Helmut Marko shut the door on two of the biggest names on the grid before either could even get near it. In extracts from his autobiography Drive, Christian Horner says it was Red Bull’s long-time motorsport adviser, not Max Verstappen, who ended any chance of pairing Fernando Alonso or Charles Leclerc with the Dutchman when the second seat alongside him came up.

The first approach, according to Horner’s account, came from Alonso directly. The Spaniard pulled Horner aside at the Japanese Grand Prix and told him he wanted the seat the following season. Then Marko intervened.

“Subsequently, Helmut, apparently on behalf of Verstappen’s management team, made it clear that they were not happy with that idea,” Horner writes in the book.

Leclerc was next on Horner’s list, and in his telling the Monegasque looked like the ideal fit. He describes Leclerc as fast, strong over one lap and a team player who seemed frustrated at Ferrari, and says he contacted the driver’s management to open a conversation. The response from Marko was identical.

Read also: Daniel Banjaqui: the 18-year-old right-back with seven European giants circling Benfica

“Shortly afterwards, Helmut told me that I should just forget about Charles as well. Just like with Fernando, it wasn’t going to happen,” Horner recalls.

‘That order did not come from Max’

The sharpest line in the extracts is Horner’s attempt to draw a dividing line between Marko and Verstappen on the Leclerc rejection.

“I knew immediately that that order did not come from Max,” he writes.

That nuance matters. The Verstappen “management team” Horner refers to is the circle around the driver, led by his father Jos and manager Raymond Vermeulen, and Horner is suggesting the veto was issued in Verstappen’s name rather than at his request. He stops short of saying anywhere that his former star driver personally wanted Alonso or Leclerc kept out.

Read also: Arsenal star reveals how last-minute decision may have saved his life in terrifying bomb attack

A third name on the list

Carlos Sainz also features in Horner’s account of the hunt for a Verstappen team-mate. Horner describes Sainz visiting his home to discuss a potential route back to Red Bull, calling him “an experienced Grand Prix driver, a team player.” Sainz ultimately signed with Williams, and the Red Bull second seat passed through Sergio Perez, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda in rapid succession.

The counterfactual the extracts open up is a different-looking grid: Alonso at Red Bull instead of Aston Martin, or Leclerc leaving Ferrari before his long-term extension there, with knock-on effects on every top-team line-up through to 2026.

Horner’s post-exit account

Horner was removed as Red Bull team principal in July 2025 after two decades at the helm, and Drive is his first extended public account of what went on behind the scenes. The book is published by Transworld on 22 October, with an audiobook narrated by Horner himself.

Read also: Viaplay’s lead F1 voice: Horner answered the question he wanted, not the one he was asked