by If you’re not a fan of Formula 1 or its slick Netflix docusoap, Drive To Liveyou may not have heard the name Christian Horner before this month.
You certainly know who it is now, however, after the Red Bull Racing team delivered a masterclass in self-destruction.
Horner is the team principal at Red Bull, a small badger of a man whose cars have completely dominated the sport for the past two years. In his 19 years in the job, he has delivered six constructors’ and seven drivers’ championships to his bosses at the energy drinks giant.
To the general public, however, he is now better known as the man accused of sending snarky and sometimes silly WhatsApp messages to a female colleague, an incident that could forever overshadow his remarkable achievements in F1.
The fact that Horner’s wife happens to be ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell only added extra spice to the saga.
More than a month after reports of Horner’s alleged controlling behavior first surfaced, Red Bull is no closer to putting out the fire in its midst. If anything, his actions only served to keep the fire going.
Red Bull decided on Thursday to suspend the woman who accused Horner of abusing his power. This after Horner tried to portray himself as the victim, saying the past few weeks had been “very trying” for his family.
So is this a simple case of a large corporation throwing a woman under the bus to protect a valuable alpha male asset? Is there more to it in the background? And can Horner really carry on as if nothing happened?
Horner, 50, has maintained from the outset that he is innocent of all allegations against him. But he never denied that the WhatsApp messages between him and the female employee, which were leaked to the media on February 29 and are now widely circulated online, are genuine.
The WhatsApps he exchanged with his colleague are flirty, to put it mildly. Some are overtly sexual in nature. It is fair to say that any woman who reads those messages sent by her husband to another woman may consider it a matter of divorce.
What we don’t know is if the messages were edited in any way, or if there are other messages that were not included in the leak and could put the episode in a different light. Team Horner certainly tried to suggest this.
Anyone trying to make sense of the murky flow of revelations in recent weeks might have asked themselves if this was a case of office flirtation turned sour, in which a willing female participant decided take a rich man to the cleaners when he would. came to an end.
If she had not explicitly told him from the beginning not to send her provocative messages, she could argue that she was afraid of the consequences of doing so. It could be argued that there is an imbalance of power between the two: Horner is one of the most powerful men not only at Red Bull Racing but in F1. The woman in question, compared to him, is nobody.
It is important to mention that Horner has been subjected to what Red Bull insists in an independent investigation carried out by an external counsel, which was successfully cleared of wrongdoing on 28 February. However, Red Bull never named the lawyer in question, which led to claims from a rival. team that the process was as transparent as a lump of Tarmac.
Toto Wolff, the Mercedes team boss and Horner’s arch rival, is among those who have called for transparency in the process, saying senior F1 figures were “role models” in world sport. Horner’s supporters, of course, could argue that Wolff, unable to lay gloves on Horner on the track, will take any opportunity that presents itself to destabilize Red Bull in other ways.
If the woman in question is terminated or resigns, she might explore the option of taking Red Bull to an employment tribunal, but even if she wins, Red Bull would be under no obligation take any action against Horner.
Horner, however, is by no means out of the woods. There are other players, and other plot threads, in this story, many of which will have a significant impact on its outcome.
Horner insisted that the Red Bull team is united, and it’s true that the psychodrama did nothing to prevent another impressive performance at last weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix, where the Red Bull cars finished in first place. and secondly.
Any suggestion that Red Bull is a happy camp is laughable. Jos Verstappen, father and mentor of Red Bull’s No.1 driver and triple world champion Max Verstappen, wants Horner out.
“There is tension here as long as he remains in the position,” he said on March 2. “The team is in danger of being torn apart. He can’t go the way he is. It will explode.
“It’s playing the victim, when the person is the cause of the problems.”
Speculation about Verstappen’s future remains intense, helped by the fact that his father has been seen chatting with Wolff.
It has also been reported that Verstappen – under contract until 2028 – has an exit clause in his contract that allows him to walk away if 80-year-old Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko, who he is close to, leaves the Milton Keynes-based. team. Crucially, Marko, who is directly employed by Red Bull rather than Red Bull Racing, is seen as an opponent, rather than an ally, of Horner.
Then there are the Red Bull Racing partners. Honda, its engine supplier, asked for “total clarity” on the situation and Ford, which will be Red Bull’s engine partner from 2026, said: “Ford’s values are non-negotiable. It is vital that our racing partners share and demonstrate a genuine commitment to the same values.”
Red Bull Racing is, of course, a subsidiary of a much larger beast, Red Bull GmbH. It’s a company built entirely on marketing and brand recognition, which is why it sinks so many millions into sponsoring and funding high-octane sports like F1.
Red Bull is not necessarily a family, which means the strength of its brand is extremely important. If the Formula 1 team’s parent company fears – or sees any evidence – that the Horner saga is damaging that brand, his job is likely to be at risk.
Friday is International Women’s Day, and the Red Bull “B” team on the F1 grid, RB, arrived on the grid for qualifying in Saudi Arabia with a decal on their cars saying: “Happy International Women’s Day to the ladies totally unbelievable on our part. team! You make the difference”. Then the name of each female employee was listed below. Horner’s own team did not follow suit. Red Bull’s own research shows that 31 per cent of its consumers are women, accounting for £2.6 billion of sales.
But Mark Borkowski, one of the UK’s most experienced public relations consultants, thinks we may all be looking through the wrong end of the telescope.
“F1 is a global sport and this doesn’t matter to the average F1 fan in Spain, Italy or Saudi Arabia,” he said. “Red Bull has always been a great sport and it’s a very masculine sport.”
Horner maintains the support of the most important woman in his life, Halliwell, who walked hand in hand with him in Bahrain. So far, he also appears to have the support of Red Bull’s majority shareholder, Chalerm Yoovidhya, whose Thai father Chaleo co-founded Red Bull with Austrian marketing genius Dietrich Mateschitz.
Yoovidhya and his wife Daranee joined Horner and Halliwell at the Bahrain Grand Prix to watch Verstappen win the opening race of the season.
Horner is close to Yoovidhya (former driver Ralf Schumacher has said that Yoovidhya sees Horner as “some kind of foster son”) and enjoyed Mateschitz’s unwavering support until his death in 2022. Son and heir Mateschitz, Mark, who owns 49 percent. of Red Bull GmbH, he wants Horner out, but Yoovidhya holds the final check.
Horner said ahead of this weekend’s Saudi Grand Prix that it was time to “move on” from the controversy. Ironically, his team’s overall dominance (which won all but one of last season’s races) means there is little excitement on track to distract from Red Bull’s HR issues.
Borkowski believes there are still dangers ahead, especially if the woman who made the complaint decides to go public for an interview. “If it turns out there’s more to this story,” he said, “people start running for cover and there has to be a sacrificial lamb, and that would be Horner.”
It may seem like the fate of the Formula 1 championship has been sealed, but as things stand Horner’s constant presence on the pit wall is not.
