2024-03-04 12:15:22
The mantra that circulates throughout the entire F1 press, and within other teams on the grid, is that Red Bull is a powder keg. It was what was said following the race, an apparent inconsistency following another double celebration in Bahrain, which predicts a year of sporting triumphs… but of internal struggles at the headquarters of MIlton Keynes, the team headquarters in Austria and the ownership of the company in Thailand.
The internal investigation by ‘inappropriate behavior’ which opened in February and ended last Thursday (February 28) with the total exoneration of Christian Horner, has been the trigger for what seems to be an internal rupture of incalculable consequences. Horner’s lawyers already leaked in the process that it was all regarding a maneuver, a montage to discredit the director of the F1 team for a power struggle.
Documents to the press
Only 24 hours following (February 29 in the followingnoon) of the sentence, all the press on the list accredited by the FIA, including the two MARCA’s usual envoys, they received a link with all supposed sensitive material with which Horner had been incriminated in the process. Were more than 70 alleged documents and several photos that they were intended to test a possible sentimental ‘affair’ with an employee under his charge (Christian is married to the former Spice Girl, Geri Halliwell).
The supposed messages of the personal WhatsApp account, since the avatar appears unmistakable message of the director and the woman’s responses, the content of which was commented on by the entire press in Sakhir, are already on Twitter and anyone can see them partially, knowing the style of the conversations contained in them.
Christian Horner is acquitted and will continue as director of Red Bull Racing
It seemed ua clear revenge from someone from within Red Bull itself (or someone close to it) to destroy Horner’s image and discredit him in the eyes of the entire paddock and his own employees.
Warning from your lawyers
And one day following the leak of the supposedly embarrassing material, to the same journalists of the first mass e-mail (more than 250 recipients) We received a warning from the law firm representing Red Bull, stating that the publication or dissemination of any of those documents would incur legal consequences, “by causing a situation of total and irreparable defenselessness to the honor of Mr. Christian Horner.”
At that time all the documents were circulating on social networks in accounts from all over the world. Nothing irreparable is revealed if it is said that Most of the content is seemingly innocuous, that it does not seem like harassment due to the tone of one and the reactions of the other person involved and that The moment the employee tells him to cut off that communication, Horner does so. immediately.
A blurred photo
Among the few photos there is one that attracts attention, one of something that can be intuited, because it is blurred, and it is a possible virile member. It is one of the few documents that It does not have Horner’s account avatar in its header and it is so filtered that it might be a finger of a hand, passed through a sieve in a photography program. The good image might have been casting in an interested way among the supposed documents of the British messages.
Horner is a victim for most
The vast majority of professionals who have had access to the alleged messages (they are not accredited as true) We were of the opinion that everything seems like a big plot to bring him down or being forced to resign from his position as director of Red Bull, simply because of the embarrassment in front of his employees or the ‘news penalty’. So far it has not had the possible desired effect.
The race and all the support of the owner of Red Bull
Far from considering leaving, although it is not known if he is still considering it at the moment, Horner appeared on Saturday, entering the Bahrain circuit hand in hand with his wife. And not only that, but he was supported at all times, walking around the grill with the owner of the company. Chalerm Yoovidhya, who also arrived accompanied by his wife. Smiling and complicit following 1/2 of Verstappen y Czech Pérez below the podium. The message was clear for potential blackmailers, he has the full support of the Red Bull boss, with 51% of shares, following the death two years ago of Dieter Mateschitz, founder of the company along with Yoovidhya’s father.
Jos Verstappen on stage
The picture of the celebration with Horner and Newey posing with the trophies and flanked by the drivers in the race, seemed to illustrate the end of the soap opera and ‘life goes on’ within Red Bull, but as in the scripts of good series, in an unexpected turn of events, the father of the three-time world champion appears. Jos Verstappen former teammate in the 90s Michael Schumacher at Benetton and Pedro de la Rosa in Arrows. A peculiar guy who never goes unnoticed and who always likes to be in the Red Bull ‘motorhome’ as if he were a living force of the team.
The statements are well known and published in MARCA. The team is in danger of breaking up, it cannot continue like this. Will explode. He plays the victim when he is the one causing the problems. There is tension as long as he remains in office,” he claimed in ‘Autosport.com’. He didn’t like Horner at all that he was acquitted, As can be seen from his words, and he seems very interested in having him leave as soon as possible. Without asking him he positions himself as opponent of his son’s direct boss. ‘Sing the chicken’, which is said colloquially.
Verstappen’s future in F1
“If I were Toto Wolff I would immediately go following Max, seeing what they have going on at Red Bull,” someone influential from the paddock commented to MARCA following the race, and it is a comment that finds its full meaning behind Jos’ words.
Max Verstappen on Christian Horner case: “Everyone has to stick together”
I would be a way to hit back at Hamilton’s loss and to recover all the focus from 2025. There is only a drawback, that next year, the champion will once once more come out of a Red Bull car, seeing the advantage they have with the current regulations. No one in their right mind would give up what would be the fifth consecutive World Cup (if 2024 wins). It’s something that only Schumacher has achieved since 1950, and those are big words. In 2026, with the new more electric engine, it will be a very different story. The frenzy among those looking for a seat For next year, nothing less than 13 pilotsand from then on it does not stop growing.
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