“The riot within Formula 1 team Red Bull Racing around the independent investigation of team boss Christian Horner turns out to be one of great proportions. The female employee who reported to the headquarters of the billion-dollar group in Austria in December 2023 accuses Horner of sexually transgressive behavior.
The employee has ceded app traffic, which would show this, to the external lawyer investigating the Horner case. De Telegraaf faced this app traffic. Horner has so far denied all allegations.
De Telegraaf’s publication on February 5 about the investigation instituted by the Red Bull summit by an external, specialist lawyer already hit like a bomb in the Formula 1 world. Since then, there has been plenty of speculation about the exact allegations of the employee in question, whose name is known to this editor.
Explosive material
It now appears that the woman’s explosive material goes far beyond ‘just’ some voice elevation of the powerful team boss and his management style, as was claimed here and there.
Stories about this have been circulating within the Formula 1 world for months, also in 2023, and were already known behind the scenes at the time of the meeting with all team bosses in London, on the same February 5.
App traffic
To be confirmed by multiple sources in Milton Keynes, England, those sounds around the big presentation of the racing team on Thursday.
The app traffic between the female employee of Red Bull and Horner, seen by De Telegraaf, shows the image that Horner (50) has arranged and sent sexually-toned messages to the employee over a significant period of time.
To cover the case
All messages have been saved and sent through the employee’s lawyer to the engaged, external lawyer. He sat around the table with Horner for hours last Friday. Previously, the reporter had been heard for a long time.
It is also clear that Horner did everything he could to cover up the case. In the weekend before the first publication in De Telegraaf – after he was confronted with the investigation into cross-border behavior on Friday evening, February 2 and was asked for a response – his lawyers sent a letter to the lawyer who asssist the reporter within 24 hours. In it, the Horner camp offers a settlement for an amount of no less than 650,000 pounds, converted to more than 760,000 euros.
Allegations known at Red Bull summit
Horner is not only a well-known figure in England because of his position as team boss of Red Bull Racing in the Formula 1 world (since 2005) and the fact that he is in charge of more than 1500 employees. He is also in a relationship with former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell and is therefore extra in the spotlight.
The allegations, the app- traffic and the tone of the apps are known at the Red Bull- summit in Austria, with Mark Mateschitz and sports boss Oliver Mintzlaff, among others.
Support from Yoovidhya
Yet Horner has not yet been put on non-active, pending the investigation, and he has not decided to (temporarily) take a step back himself. That has everything to do with the fact that the Briton still has the support of the Thai Chalerm Yoovidhya. He owns Red Bull for 51 percent and therefore owns a majority. The remaining shares, 49 percent, are owned by Mark Mateschitz, the son of Dietrich Mateschitz, who died in 2022.
Horner was just at work for the past period and also present at the Red Bull plant in Milton Keynes on Thursday at the presentation of the new car of world champions Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez for the upcoming Formula 1 season. Next week, the test days in Bahrain are scheduled, the place where the first race of the season will also be held a week later (Saturday 2 March).
Rather lost than rich
The Briton again denied all allegations to him on Thursday after the team presentation, stated that he will just be in Bahrain next week, did not think about getting off and also said he felt a lot of support within the team and from the Red Bull summit.
However, it is clear that many insiders, and probably also Horner himself, realize that within that Red Bull- top - so not from the racing team but from the headquarters in Austria - many would rather lose him than be rich.
Known to other protagonists in F1
It is not for nothing that headquarters, after questions from De Telegraaf about accusations against Horner, quickly confirmed that an investigation is indeed underway and the case is being taken ‘extremely seriously’. Horner had no knowledge of the statement at the time.
Horner’s allegations of sexually transgressive behavior are now also known to several, other protagonists in the Formula 1 world.
Eyes focused on Liberty Media
In addition, the eyes of the American sports owners of Liberty Media – owner of the Formula 1 for four billion euros since 2016 – are also focused on the issue and its handling, as are Red Bulls major, American sponsors Oracle and Ford.
It is precisely in the United States that these kinds of things around multinationals and world-famous sports brands are extra sensitive.
Horner did not want to respond to questions about app traffic.”
Horner is the boss of the team and his well-paid subordinates have little problems with entanglements of wider Red Bull in right wing politics. They’d be somewhere else if they had.
Red Bull are happily keeping racist Helmut Marko.
Horner is a team principal, but that doesn’t make him boss. The boss is Mark Mateschitz, who may not want to see his company known for Horners dalliance.
There is no need to play whatabout. In fact, forcing Horner out the door could quiet Marko.
Mateschitz is the boss of the team’s owner. That’s a distinction from “the team already wants to see him gone”. The team is subordinate to Horner.
It’s not a play. It’s context that Red Bull is totally fine with discrimination even if it makes them look bad.
Just like Haas was subordinate to Gunther Steiner? But, not any more.
You really have a hard time distinguishing between “the team already wants to see him gone” and “the team’s owner wants to see him gone” (the owner of each Haas F1 and RBR is NOT part of the team, Toto Wolff is the sole exception as team member and co-owner).
The guy that signs the checks is not only part of the team, but is the boss.
Again: Owner of a team and member of a team a different things. Just own up to the fact that you misspoke and move on. I’m moving on and have no interest in discussing any longer with you.