IN THE SPOTLIGHT FOR THE WRONG REASONS
From reading the national press this week, it was hard to believe that there was a motor race in Bahrain on Saturday. The headlines were all being written by Christian Horner and the ongoing saga around the inquiry into inappropriate behaviour that had been levelled by a female colleague at Red Bull Racing. The entire episode should have been put to bed on Friday last week when Horner, who has consistently denied the allegations, was cleared by an internal procedure. As far as Horner was concerned, that was the end of the matter and he could get back to his job on the pitwall.
But then there were the leaks. Pages and pages of WhatsApp communications, allegedly made between Horner and the female, were sent to 149 people within the Formula 1 inner sanctum. It all looked like a stitch-up, to be frank.
Fellow team principals got involved, with some wanting a more transparent outcome to Horner’s inquiry, which they felt had not been made available. Firstly, it doesn’t really have anything to do with them and secondly, it is a bit churlish to come from rivals who are seemingly aiming to exploit any weakness from the all-conquering Red Bull.
Perhaps the most pertinent part of this ugly episode is where the leaks came from. Clearly it was from a party that is hell bent on removing Horner from his role. He has guided Red Bull to its current lofty standing in grand prix racing and has had his hand on the tiller for six constructors’ crowns and seven drivers’ titles. So the question remains: who wants to destabilise such a successful programme?
Max’s dad, ex-F1 racer Jos, has denied it is him. He pointed to the fact that Max had a contract with Red Bull that would take him through to the end of 2028 and he was enjoying his purple patch with the Milton Keynes team.
Whoever it is, this seems to be nothing more than a high-powered battle for control that could be being fought out in the corridors of power at Red Bull. The way the issue has been raised, handled and refuses to die out is unedifying. F1 doesn’t need this.
In this issue, we look ahead to the national racing season with our traditional National Racing Calendar. It contains all the venues and dates to catch the action in 2024, and it shows just what a busy 2024 we are in store for. Graham Keilloh finds out about a new initiative for Formula Ford, we hand-pick our must-see events, we unearth what the race circuits do over the winter months and national racer and design guru Adrian Reynard is the subject of our readers’ Q&A. It is a packed issue.