The historic director of the Red Bull Formula 1 team Christian Horner, cleared of accusations of “inappropriate behavior” brought against him internally, assured Thursday that the unity in his team “has never been so strong”, while that several teams denounce a lack of transparency in this matter.
Horner, 50, was suspected of “inappropriate behavior” towards an employee, “allegations” which he has always “totally” rejected. The outcome of the internal investigation targeting the Briton – revealed at the beginning of February – was communicated on Wednesday evening by the parent company of the team, reigning world champion among manufacturers.
“I am happy to be here in Bahrain, and together with the team we are focused on the coming season,” Christian Horner told Sky Sports the day after the decision. Unity in the ranks of Red Bull “has never been so strong,” he also assured.
Arriving Wednesday evening on the Gulf island, the manager, retained in his post, now says “to concentrate on the Grand Prix and the coming season to try to defend our two titles”. “I cannot give you any further comments, but the process has been carried out and concluded.”
According to the press release released Wednesday, the complainant has the right to appeal the decision. For the moment, no decision to this effect has been communicated.
Questioned at a press conference on Thursday, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff called for more transparency regarding the conclusions of this investigation – the details of which have not been revealed.
“I feel we can’t really look behind the curtain but at the end of the day there is a woman in an organization who spoke to HR and said there was a problem, which was addressed an investigation and yesterday the sport received a message saying everything was fine. We looked into the matter,” Wolff said. “I think that with the desire for a global sport on such critical subjects, there needs to be more transparency.”
Red Bull had indicated on Wednesday in its laconic press release that “the investigation report (being) confidential and (containing) private information on the parties and third parties who participated in the investigation”, the group would not make further comments “out of respect for everyone involved.”
“There will still be a lot of speculation because there are a lot of unanswered questions about the whole process,” McLaren CEO Zak Brown said on Thursday. “And that’s what those who run the sport need to be able to really put a stop to it.”
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