Spicy chats after relief
Alleged “Horner leak” shakes Formula 1
February 29, 2024, 9:59 p.m
An internal investigation by Red Bull clears team boss Christian Horner of serious allegations. Just one day later, an explosive email appeared with alleged chat history between Horner and an employee. Sent to all team bosses and several journalists.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was able to breathe a sigh of relief on Wednesday. After an internal investigation, the 50-year-old was cleared of serious allegations of inappropriate behavior towards an employee. But there was no peace after that. The Formula 1 competitors, including Mercedes boss Toto Wollf, complained about a lack of transparency in the investigation and suggested an examination by Formula 1 and the world association FIA. And then an explosive email appeared on Thursday afternoon.
While the second training session at the start of the season was still underway in Bahrain, a sensitive document containing alleged chats between Horner and the employee ended up in the mailboxes of all team bosses and numerous reporters. The email was sent by an anonymous sender with the address febtwentyninth@*****.com. The Formula1.de portal reports on the sensitive content. It says, among other things: “Following Red Bull’s recent investigation and official statements, you will be interested to see the attached material.” ntv.de expert Felix Görner can confirm that the email actually exists. “But of course you have to check whether it is a fake or real material,” says Görner.
“I’m amazed and surprised”
The email is said to contain a lot of screenshots with spicy pictures and suggestive posts from private messages between Red Bull team boss Horner and that employee. However, the authenticity of the screenshots cannot yet be verified. Helmut Marko, the Red Bull motorsport consultant, told the “Bild” newspaper: “I didn’t even notice that. I’m amazed and surprised that the documents were leaked. I’ve never seen them myself.” The 80-year-old had previously given an unusually tight-lipped answer in the “Sky” interview when asked whether he and the team were relieved by Horner’s acquittal. “We are happy that it is a decision. I don’t want to comment on the rest.”
The email is definitely causing shocks right before the start of the season and is putting massive pressure on the Red Bull team. “If all of this is true, you also have to question Red Bull’s entire reappraisal process,” says Görner. Especially since many things are still unclear after the discharge and there is a lack of the transparency that Wolff also complains about. “If everything is stab and stab-proof, then Oliver Mintzlaff has to do it (Editor’s note: Managing Director of Red Bull GmbH) Horner fired. Or Horner has to resign on his own initiative.” A court case would also be conceivable, but that would have to involve a plaintiff. “And that can only be the employee,” says Görner.
The entire Horner case remains explosive. After all, that’s why the team is supposed to be simmering. In the course of the affair, it was reported several times that many leading people in the team, including Marko and the camp around world champion driver Max Verstappen, would have liked to part ways with the 50-year-old immediately.