Weeks before Christian Horner and Red Bull travel to Bahrain to begin their championship defense, allegations against the former rocked the F1 fraternity. As per reports, Horner was accused of “inappropriate behavior“ by a Red Bull employee. With Horner under investigation now, his wife Geri Halliwell remains very supportive.
“I have a very supportive family and a very supportive wife. My job is now to focus on the season ahead,” said the 50-year-old boss according to a video by the Daily Mail. This is the deepest controversy Horner has been involved in during his tenure as Red Bull team principal, since he took up the role in 2005.
During Red Bull’s unveiling of the RB20 challenger, Horner revealed that he will stay on as the team principal. Along with the team, he will travel to Bahrain for the opening race on 2nd March, and oversee operations like he always does.
Horner found himself in hot waters after an employee accused him of “inappropriate behavior”. Because of this, their parent company in Austria called for an internal investigation. British publications reported earlier that the accusations against Horner devastated Halliwell. According to Horner, however, he has the full support of his wife.
An independent lawyer is currently finding out whether Horner is guilty, but the Red Bull boss himself has assembled a team to defend his interests. He is trying his best to keep everything under control.
Christian Horner fighting to save his reputation
Earlier this month, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf published a sensational report that accused Christian Horner of contemplating monetary settlement. According to the report, the Horner camp offered a staggering $800,000 to the female employee for the settlement.
After they published the news, the Red Bull boss and his lawyers decided to sue them. Since Horner categorically denied all the claims, they opted to take legal proceedings against De Telegraaf.
These allegations against Horner also put Ford’s future association with Red Bull in jeopardy. Mark Rushbrook, the General Director of the American automobile company said on the ongoing investigation,
“As a family company that holds itself to very high standards of behavior and integrity, we expect the same from our partners.”
This sounded like a cold threat to the Austrian F1 team. Additionally, a few experts also believe that the allegations might have been instrumented by the power struggle between Helmut Marko, Jos Verstappen versus Christian Horner inside Red Bull.
