Christian Horner has been a key member of Red Bull since its inception, helping the team win six titles with him as team principal. The start of 2024, however, sees him in hot water with the F1 community, due to an investigation against him, which started when a female employee of Red Bull accused him of inappropriate behavior. He remains the boss, for now. But one thing is certain. Horner will miss out on a 10-year-long tradition ahead of the season opener in Bahrain.
According to a statement made by Jeppe H. Olesen on X, “Christian Horner will not attend the Team Principals Press Conference on Thursday.”
Horner continues to be under investigation as of Wednesday, just one day before the Bahrain GP weekend kicks off. Reports, however, suggested that Red Bull would release a verdict before the weekend kicked off. Whether they do so, remains to be seen.
Because of his absence from the team principal’s press conference, Horner will miss out on a 10-year-old tradition. Olesen wrote, “For at least the last 10 years, the TP of the defending champions has been present at the first press conference of the season.”
While Horner will be missing, other team bosses are anticipated to make an appearance like always. Toto Wolff, Fred Vasseur, Zak Brown and Laurent Mekies will take questions from the media together in Bahrain ahead of the race. Team principals for the remaining five teams too, will take stage together.
Update on the Christian Horner case
After a female employee accused Horner of inappropriate workplace behavior, Red Bull GmBH, the F1 team’s parent company opened an investigation. An independent lawyer got hired to take a look at this case, and reach a verdict.
On 9th February, the lawyer met Horner separately to hear his side of the story. This started rumors that Horner had been offered to leave Red Bull on his own terms. However, the Briton remains adamant that he is innocent, and will continue to lead Red Bull.
Several stakeholders are getting frustrated that Red Bull is taking so much time to give out a verdict. Their partners Ford, wrote a letter to the company asking them to speed up the process, and F1 too, wants a swift end to this saga. Thankfully for them, there should be an official verdict handed out soon.
According to Sky Sports, the Red Bull GmbH board currently has possession of a lengthy 100-page report. Horner’s future will be decided by that report and whether or not he leads Red Bull in 2024 will be revealed in the coming few days.
