Horner probe clouds start of F1 carnival
THIS must not be allowed to carry on any longer than it needs to. The saga around Christian Horner filled every conversation at the Bahrain International Circuit yesterday and the man at the centre of it pretended as best he could that it was ‘business as normal’.
That has been his go-to phrase since allegations broke that he is under investigation for supposedly coercive behaviour towards a female employee, accusations he strongly denies.
And he stuck to the mantra in walking across the sunlit paddock, where pre-season testing is taking place, to take his place in a press conference — a date he kept as if, yes, it was ‘business as normal’. Horner signed autographs on the caps of guests on the Red Bull terrace afterwards. He shook a few hands and posed for selfies.
It was forced bonhomie, of course, the brave outward face of a proud individual in the crisis of his life, all paraded for public consumption and the ubiquitous sound boom of the Netflix crew.
What a miss Horner would be for the broadcasters should he leave the sport after 19 years. He and Spice Girl wife Geri Halliwell bring glamour to the show. Along with Toto Wolff, his great interlocutor at Mercedes, he is one of the two modern giants of the team principals’ Piranha Club, and has never knowingly been shy in front of a camera. Not even now, if obviously viewing the exposure with rather less relish than before.
The accuser herself can hardly be more sanguine away from the limelight and the lines of photographers who tracked Horner every step of his way.
So it is no doubt good news for all concerned that I can reveal the inquiry’s findings, headed by an unnamed KC, are expected to be handed in to the Red Bull board for its determination over the next few days.
A resolution is expected before the opening round of the world championship, back in this Gulf kingdom, a week tomorrow.
Horner, 50, with so much at stake in his £8million-a-year job, would welcome such swiftness, talking yesterday of a conclusion ‘as soon as possible’, though his supporters say he ‘respects the investigation, however long it takes’. One said: ‘This isn’t a public inquiry.’
This week in Bahrain, where the Red Bull car has been ominously quick, Wolff and McLaren boss Zak Brown called for transparency.
Wolff described it as ‘an issue for all of Formula One’. Brown, speaking yesterday, said: ‘The allegations are extremely serious. McLaren hold themselves to the highest standards of diversity, equality and inclusion. These are extremely important to us and our partners, and to everyone in Formula One.
‘Red Bull Corporation has launched an investigation and all we hope and assume is that it will be handled in a very transparent way, and, as the FIA and Formula One have said, swiftly, because these are not the headlines that Formula One wants or needs.’
Back at the Red Bull hospitality area in one of the most pleasant paddocks in the sport — big enough only, but intimate, perfectly sized for gossip to travel door to door from one team to the next — sat Max Verstappen, their triple and reigning world champion. He was doing a media round with Dutch journalists. It is a laugh that the PR lady from Red Bull listens in. She doesn’t understand a word of Dutch.
But, whatever Max said, I know him well enough to guess that he would wish the instability aroused by questions over his boss’s future to be cast away. Race, sleep, race, sleep, is his style.
Yes, in some ways it is ‘business as normal’ at the 13-worldchampionship-winning operation, its mechanics and engineers going about their polished jobs like perfection. But it isn’t ‘business as normal’ and won’t be until this matter is dealt with.