formula 1
World association head: Horner matter is damaging sport
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner is under pressure. photo
© Darko Bandic/AP
The FIA does not want to initiate its own investigation into the affair surrounding the Red Bull team boss for the time being. But the head of the International Automobile Association speaks about the impact of the matter.
The International Automobile Association wants to deal with the spicy matter surrounding Red Bull’s Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner is not currently conducting his own investigations. FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem told the Financial Times.
After a conversation with Horner, the 62-year-old from Dubai also explained: “It’s damaging to the sport. It’s damaging on a human level.” Horner had been accused of inappropriate behavior by an employee. After an investigation by an independent lawyer, parent company Red Bull said last Wednesday that the complaint had been rejected.
A day later, emails were sent from anonymous addresses with a link to alleged files in the matter. Horner’s team boss colleagues Toto Wolff from Mercedes and Zak Brown from McLaren had previously called for more transparency and also held the FIA responsible.
Ben Sulayem explained that the FIA would not initiate an investigation because it had not received a formal complaint about it. He declined to discuss the contents of the conversation with Horner, but emphasized that a lawyer had conducted a thorough investigation on behalf of Red Bull. Horner, 50 years old and the team boss since the Austrian company joined the Red Bull Racing team, has always denied the allegations.
The FIA boss added that it was important to “protect the sport from all this” and pointed to the importance of the season opener in Bahrain and the popularity of the series. “Look at the competition. Why should we overshadow it with negativity,” said Ben Sulayem. There was initially no reaction from a Formula 1 official on the Sakhir circuit.