SUMMARY
- Christian Horner was initially accused of indulging in unlawful actions with an unnamed Red Bull employee.
- The Briton was eventually proven not guilty of all allegations through a statement by Red Bull.
The Bahrain Grand Prix is no longer the center of attraction, with Christian Horner inadvertently stealing the spotlight yet again. After being cleared of all the allegations, the British team principal was visibly looking forward to witnessing his biggest treasure, Max Verstappen, running riot on the entire grid with a superior performance in Bahrain.
However, his hopes have been completely tarnished by an unidentified individual, who used a mere Google Drive link to turn the entire world against Horner. On Thursday, numerous motorsport personalities, including hundreds of journalists, team principals, the FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, and the CEO of Formula One Management Stefano Domenicali received an email from an unknown address.
And the file was under the name ‘Christian Horner Evidence’. According to reports, the Drive link featured close to 79 unique files, the majority of which were screenshots of Horner’s alleged conversation with the ‘victim’ and the rest were images of Horner himself.
Unsurprisingly enough, ever since the images reached the hands of millions of fans and journalists, there has been a debate over the authenticity of the images. Some claim that they are anything but true, hinting at the influence of AI while the rest of the group is convinced that the files are authentic enough for the FIA and F1 to take further action against the Red Bull boss.
F1 & FIA bosses join the controversy as Christian Horner pleads innocent
Hours after the shocking images emerged on social media, Horner released a statement acknowledging his innocence in the case. However, that is certainly not going to stop Ben Sulayem and Domenicali, the big bosses of the sport, from intervening and seeking a solution once and for all.
According to RacingNews365 and several other media houses, Ben Sulayem and Domenicali will host a private meeting to discuss Horner’s alleged shenanigans. Here’s what the report of RacingNews365 has to say:
#F1 | It’s been reported that FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali are set to meet to address the Christian Horner matter this weekend.
“The matter has become a high priority for the two most senior figures in F1 following the emergence of an email…
— deni (@fiagirly) March 1, 2024
“The matter has become a high priority for the two most senior figures in F1 following the emergence of an email leaked on Thursday containing 79 files predominantly of alleged Whatsapp conversations between Horner and the woman understood to have made a complaint of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ against the 50-year-old.”
Overall, by the looks of it, Horner could now face serious consequences along with his entire team Red Bull Racing if proven guilty of tampering with evidence. In a prestigious sport like Formula 1, punishments will be far worse than anyone could imagine. Hence, can Horner prove himself clean yet again and escape this pitfall unscathed?