An accurate reconstruction
Many will remember what it was like the header Business F1 to initiate media attention on the possible conflict of interest within the Wolff family. Buzz that pushed the Federation to monitor the start of an in-depth study, before a sudden about-face in the face of the unanimous outcry from the F1 teams and Liberty Media.
Here, in its March issue the British magazine dedicated a 17-page in-depth analysis of the Horner case, reconstructing in detail all the steps that led to the start and conclusion of the corporate investigation into Red Bull. Obviously the magazine, very well integrated within the paddock, provided still unpublished details on the affair.
How the investigation began
A summary of the contents of the dossier Business F1 was supplied in the last few hours by the Germans Motorsport-Total.
The employeeobject of Christian Horner's attention, she would collapse on the sidelines of a race weekend, speaking in tears to his colleagues the behavior shown towards him by the team principal.
They would emerge rather heavy detailsincompatible with the continuation of the 50-year-old British man's work within Red Bull.
The dismissal letter is ready
When the story leaked to the media, she had been known to Red Bull for at least two monthswith CEO Oliver Mintzlaff who last February 2nd had come to the conclusion that what Horner had done was inconsistent with the company's code of conduct. Hence the decision to fire the team principal, with the press release already prepared: “Red Bull GmbH confirms that Christian Horner has left Red Bull Racing with immediate effect. Red Bull GmbH will have no further comment on the matter“. Mintzlaff's idea was therefore to separate from Horner while keeping the scandal confidential, to save the British man's public image and avoid embarrassment for the company.
Horner's counter move
Mintzlaff, however, had not taken into account the Christian Horner's reactionThat rejected the termination of the contract, alerting his lawyers, who blocked the press release before it could be issued. Horner has so activated the contractual clause which gave him the right to an investigation conducted by an independent body in the case of accusations of this type.
Despite having already made the decision to fire the team principal, Mintzlaff gave in to the request of the opposing lawyers, also because Horner had raised the possibility of submitting an injunction to the High Court in London. Oliver Mintzlaff considered the evidence available to the company overwhelming, and therefore temporarily blocked the dismissal, confidently awaiting the outcome of the independent investigation – which should have arrived two weeks later.
Doubts about the investigation
At that point the Yoovidhya family entered the story – owner of 51% of the company -, who decided to take Horner under their protective wing. February 28thright around the Bahrain GP, the English team principal cashed in absolution from any accusation, to the amazement of the Austrian side of Red Bull.
Business F1 he then raised numerous doubts about the conduct of the investigation. For example, reference is made to who would have chosen that lawyer independent and at strange disappearance of the latter – who became unavailable because he was on holiday for 2 weeks -, exactly at the end of the collection of the evidentiary material. Unavailability which would have extended the wait for the result by another 14 days and which would have thus brought it – as happened – close to the start of the F1 world championship.
What happened has irritated several figures That “they had become aware of the matter“, who thus began to leak more and more information to the media. And to publicly declare war on Horner, some anonymously, some exposing themselves personally.
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