(Motorsport-Total.com) – The future of Christian Horner, currently team boss of Red Bull Racing in Formula 1, could soon be clarified. The report from the independent investigative lawyer who was commissioned by Red Bull GmbH to carry out an investigation into the allegations against Horner is now apparently available.
Will things be tight for Christian Horner now? The decision is apparently imminent…
At least that’s what reports the English pay-TV provider Sky on Monday evening. Accordingly, the report, which has already been presented to the energy drink manufacturer’s decision-makers, should consist of around 150 pages and contain transcripts of a total of 60 hours of interviews that were conducted with people directly and indirectly involved.
The contents of the report are not publicly known and will probably remain that way. For reasons of protecting the privacy of both Horner and the employee concerned, it is unlikely that Red Bull GmbH will disclose in detail what the specific allegations are.
But what is expected, even before the new season begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 2nd, is a decision as to whether Horner will remain team boss or not. According to information from Sky This announcement could be made on Tuesday or Wednesday. At the moment, the decision-makers are probably deliberating behind the scenes.
At the beginning of February it was leaked from the Netherlands that Red Bull GmbH had initiated an external investigation into allegations made against Horner by a Red Bull Racing employee. On February 9th, Horner was questioned about the allegations by an independent investigator for around eight hours.
However, Horner was not suspended from duty for the duration of the investigation, as many had expected, but did not appear at both the presentation of the RB20 for the 2024 season on February 15th and at the winter tests in Bahrain from February 21st to 23rd officially as team boss of Red Bull Racing.
The fact that the period of uncertainty lasted so long is probably also due to the fact that an investigation into such serious allegations must be thorough and fair. And as long as the results of the investigation were not available, Horner was fully entitled to the presumption of innocence.
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The investigation report is now not publicly known, but the shareholders of Red Bull GmbH hold it in their hands and must now take the next step to decide whether Horner can and may remain in his position or not.
Recently, the pressure on Red Bull from outside had been increasing. Formula 1 rights holder Liberty Media is said to be extremely concerned about the media coverage of the Horner affair, and recently the car manufacturer Ford, which is in partnership with Red Bull Powertrains, even wrote a letter to Red Bull to express their dissatisfaction with the handling of the matter .
It was also leaked from well-informed circles that names who could succeed Horner were already being discussed at the highest level at Red Bull in Austria. The company’s 51 percent Thai owners, on the other hand, are said to have stood behind Horner until the end.
Whether they will continue to do so now that the complete investigation report is available will be decided, should they Sky-Information vote, show on Tuesday or Wednesday.