SUMMARY
- According to reports, Red Bull tried its best to offer Christian Horner a safe way out.
- Unsurprisingly, Horner has stood his ground, and prepared to prove himself innocent.
While the 2024 season started in the favor of Lewis Hamilton as he planned to take his new beginning to Ferrari, the Red Bull boss saw misfortune follow him. Christian Horner planned to duplicate the successful 2023 season in 2024 and bring the team yet another championship. However, his plans only went downhill after serious allegations were made against him.
The first week of February proved to be a sore eye for the Austrian team as their team boss got caught up in allegations of inappropriate behavior towards a team member. After the allegations were made, it was revealed that they involved unsolicited pictures and a dossier full of evidence against the Briton. However, it seems Red Bull has done all that it could to save Horner’s face.
Christian Horner turns down a simple way out
Horner has been a star of the sport for quite some time after the Red Bull star driver, Max Verstappen managed to produce an incredible season for 2023. With 15 consecutive race wins as a team and three consecutive world championships, they prepared for the fourth season. However, Horner has faced a deep challenge to overcome before the season begins.
The Briton was accused of having inappropriate behavior towards a team member with the victim submitting a dossier full of evidence against the boss. While the accusations were made at the end of the first week of February, there have been no conclusions that have come out of the situation. However, it looks like Red Bull was aware of this situation beforehand and tried to save Horner’s face.
🚨 | Christian Horner is said to have been offered an opportunity to get out of the matter without losing face at the end of last year.
The plan for this was already prepared. Horner would resign as team boss of his own free will, and the official reason could have been health… pic.twitter.com/Vo8ZmK2KmG
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) February 16, 2024
Red Bull was allegedly aware of the situation and the issues that could arise with it going public. This was when the Milton Keynes team gave the Briton an opportunity to step down from the post as a team principal himself which would leave him not having to deal with any consequences and would be considered the end of the matter.
However, the team principal disagreed to take the opportunity. The plan would have seen Horner leaving the team of his own free will and would be declared it was due to health issues. Nevertheless, his denying to do so resulted in the allegations going public and an investigation involving three lawyers taking place at Red Bull.
Bernie Ecclestone gets involved in the Horner drama
Bernie Ecclestone has been a huge name in F1 mainly because of his involvement with every other scandal in the sport. He has been a part of the Felipe Massa case and now has made his way to Horner. After the allegations made against the Briton, it was revealed by some news outlets that the team principal was advised by Ecclestone to leave Red Bull.
Bernie Ecclestone taking to Instagram to deny that he advised Christian Horner to resign from Red Bull.
With noting that he also denied committing fraud before later admitting it and being convicted… #F1 pic.twitter.com/H0kRbOtqqO
— Rob Myers (@RobLMyers) February 14, 2024
Nevertheless, the former F1 owner came out to make a statement about the accusations. He said in a post, “To clarify reports by newspapers that I had urged or suggested that Christian Horner should step down from his position in Red Bull is untrue.”
With no further updates on the case and the first race of the season in Bahrain only weeks away, the team principal is gambling on his fate.