Hans Stuck Calls Red Bull's Christian Horner a "Puppet"

Former Formula One driver Hans-Joachim Stuck slammed the management team at Red Bull for the furore caused within the paddock at the recent British Grand Prix by the famous wing-saga. Although Mark Webber issued a statement in which he hints everybody at Milton Keynes has drawn the line under the front wing row, Stuck believes the way in which the Austrian team conducted themselves at Silverstone was unacceptable.

Echoing the comments of former grand prix racer Jos Verstappen – who said that he would have trodden on the wing in Webber's place – Stuck argued that Red Bull acted irresponsibly last weekend and put all the blame for that on the team's motorsport advisor Helmut Marko.

Known to be Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz's right hand in motor racing related matters, Marko is rumored to be quite a fan of Sebastian Vettel, whom he defends every time he has the chance. After the Turkish GP saga, he now did it again by favoring the German youngster in the front wing decision.

“What the team management did in Britain was an absolute outrage,” said Stuck, who is currently the motorsport boss for Volkswagen, in his column for the TZ newspaper. “Christian Horner is just a puppet, the strings for Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz are pulled solely by Marko.”

Stuck continued his accusations at Marko and advised Mateschitz to fire the Austrian and replace him with his much experienced and respected countryman Franz Tost – currently team principal for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

“Whoever decided to take the new wing away from Webber qualified for his final pension. Mateschitz must respond by putting in a new man at Red Bull. (Franz) Tost is in every respect one of the best managers in Formula One,” added Stuck.