Red Bull Racing boss Christian Horner says he “won’t comment on anonymous speculation” after an unnamed sender purportedly leaked hundreds of WhatsApp messages claimed to have been used as evidence in the investigation into allegations of inappropriate workplace behaviour against him.
A Google Drive link containing what is claimed to be 79 screenshots of a conversation between Horner and an unnamed female colleague was emailed to more than 150 people overnight while cars were on track for second practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The veracity of the messages has not been established.
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The email was sent one day after Red Bull in Austria announced that a “grievance” against Horner had been dismissed following a weeks-long external investigation led by an independent King’s Counsel.
The complaint was said to concern inappropriate and controlling behaviour by the team principal towards a female member of staff.
Horner has always denied the allegations, and the 50-year-old team principal released a statement on his own behalf refusing to engage in the latest leak.
“I won’t comment on anonymous speculation,” the statement said. “But, to reiterate, I have always denied the allegations.
“I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and fully co-operated with it every step of the way.
“It was a thorough and fair investigation conducted by an independent specialist barrister and it has concluded dismissing the complaint made.
“I remain fully focused on the start of the season.”
The email was reportedly sent to more than 150 people, including recipients at rival teams, F1 management, the FIA and journalists.
According to The Race, no-one associated Red Bull Racing was on the recipient list except for Jos Verstappen, father of three-time champion Max Verstappen.
Regardless of the authenticity of the leak, the incident will pile more pressure onto Horner, who only 24 hours earlier appeared to have finally cleared his name on the eve of the start of the season.
It has also boosted speculation that internal political forces are attempting to use the saga to oust Horner from his team principal position.
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The email began circulating during second practice, shortly after Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and McLaren CEO Zak Brown had called for more transparency over the findings of the investigation.
“The statement … was pretty basic, I would say,” Wolff said of Red Bull’s 89-word exoneration of Horner. “My personal opinion is we can’t really look behind the curtain.
“At the end of the day, there is a lady in an organisation that has spoken to HR and said there is an issue and it was investigated, and yesterday the sport has received the message [that], ‘It’s all fine, we’ve looked at it’.
“I just simply think that as a sport we cannot afford to leave things in the vague and in the opaque on critical topics like this, because this is going to catch us out.
“We are in a super transparent world. Eventually things are going to happen. and I think we have the duty — or the organisation has the duty — to say, ‘Well we’ve looked at it and it’s okay’ and then we can move on.
“I think it’s sometimes very shortsighted to try to suppress it — I’m not saying this has happened; we’re standing from the outside and looking at it — but just looking at statements or press releases or timelines, it just seems that it’s not as modern as things go in this world, in the real world out there.
“But maybe in Formula 1 we just have a little bubble and we think that’s okay.
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Brown called on the FIA and F1 management to intervene on behalf of the sport to ensure the investigation was conducted to a high standard.
“I think the sanctioning body has a responsibility and authority to our sport to our fans,” he said.
“I think all of us in Formula 1 are ambassadors for the sport on and off the track, like you see in other sports, and so I think they need to make sure that things have been fully transparent with them.
“I don’t know what those conversations are, and it needs to be thorough, fully transparent, and that they come to the same conclusion that has been given by Red Bull and that they agree with the outcome.
“I think until then there’ll continue to be speculation because there are a lot of unanswered questions about the whole process, and so I think that’s what’s needed by those that run the sport to really be able to draw a line under it.
“Until then I think there’ll continue to be some level of speculation by people, and I don’t think that’s healthy for the sport.”
Brown said it was up to the sport to set a standard it was comfortable with.
“I think it’s the responsibility ultimately of the organisers of Formula 1, the owners of Formula 1, to make sure that all the racing teams and the personnel and the drivers and everyone involved in this sport are operating in a manner which we all live by,” he said. “I don’t think it’s the teams’ roles and responsibilities.
“I think that’s up to FIA and Formula 1 to ultimately decide and to ask what they feel gives them the level of transparency that they need to ultimately come to their conclusion.
“We just have to count on them that they fulfil that obligation to all of us.”
Red Bull’s statement a day earlier had confirmed the complainant has a right to appeal the findings made in the report.
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