The Christian Horner saga at Red Bull doesn’t seem to steer clear of the limelight as the 2024 season has started in full swing. The latest update after the internal investigation concluded during the Bahrain GP weekend is that Red Bull have suspended the female employee who was the complainant in question in this entire matter. This news has received widespread criticism from fans and experts. F1 journalist Claire Cottingham has slammed the Austrian team by pointing out that their stance feels like women “don’t have a voice”.
Cottingham, who is a journalist, presenter, and pitlane reporter, works for several networks, including BBC Sport, Eurosport, and ITV Sport as per her Twitter (now X) bio. After the news came out of the female employee’s suspension, Cottingham tweeted,
“The problem here lies with Red Bull not explaining what is going on here which implements women all over the world. On the outside, it says women A. Don’t have a voice and B. If they do they will be suspended. It is in Red Bull and women’s best interest to explain this.”
The identity of the complainant female employee was under wraps ever since the “inappropriate behavior” allegations first came out in the public forum. Red Bull GmbH and Red Bull Racing kept things secret to claim it as an “internal matter“.
However, as the external barrister “dismissed the grievance” against Horner after weeks of investigation and examination of the evidence, things took an ugly turn. An anonymous source emailed some alleged evidence to all major entities of the F1 paddock, including rival team bosses, the F1 CEO, the FIA president, and major media personnel.
No one could verify the authenticity of the files in this email. However, it worsened the narrative against Horner. Since then, the female employee in question was still employed by Red Bull. But, the latest update confirms her suspension.
From a women’s employment rights perspective, like Cottingham, many other fans are fuming and may ask for an explanation from Red Bull. According to Autosport, Red Bull have denied to comment, citing it as an “internal matter”.
What are F1 drivers saying about the Christian Horner and Red Bull saga?
Many fans are not happy about how F1 drivers have opted to stay diplomatic about the ongoing saga at Red Bull. Max Verstappen has been under the radar for his father Jos Verstappen’s comments last weekend against Christian Horner. The 26-year-old has supported his father’s “outspoken” comments on Red Bull’s current situation by saying that his father “is not a liar”.
Besides the Red Bull driver, the media asked many other drivers about the current off-track situation during Wednesday’s press conference. George Russell gave a diplomatically detailed response as to not being aware of the entire situation.
However, he expressed disappointment in his answer to The Athletic as quoted by the FIA transcript on how these off-track controversies have put racing on the back burner in terms of media attention. Lance Stroll cited that he just “likes driving cars” and even Valtteri Bottas reiterated the same point (as seen on Twitter) to avoid commenting much on the matter.
Nico Hulkenberg too cited that it “doesn’t affect him” and avoided commenting on it. Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton was perhaps the only driver who commented in some capacity.
He explained how it is “disappointing to see what’s going on right now”. As quoted by GP Blog, Hamilton was vocal on how sensitive the matter is and thinks that “it’s a really, really important time for the sport to show and stick to its values, holding ourselves accountable for our actions. It’s just a really, really pivotal moment in terms of what we project and how it’s handled.”
Naturally, fans are not happy with several drivers apart from Hamilton not expressing their opinions. Several fans on Twitter (now X) expressed their disappointment against drivers’ avoidance to speak.
