Horner, Red Bull denies the crisis: “No problem”

by VALERIO BARRETTA

Horner, Red Bull denies the crisis

Red Bull opens the umbrella to defend themselves from the deluge of speculation that has arrived on their heads for a few weeks. The acquittal of team principal Chris Horner from accusations of inappropriate behavior (sexually, as reported by the de Telegraaf) against an employee did not have the desired effect, because after the exoneration the case was reopened following the email chat between the British man and the girl.

After the further chaos generated in Bahrain, with the obvious embarrassment of F1 and FIA in managing the matter, the Milton Keynes team reiterated through a spokesperson that there is a united climate within the team and only the grand prizes: “There are no problems. The team is united and we are only focused on the races“.

The problem, for Red Bull, is that the umbrella is useless, because it is clearly raining at home. Who on the outside could have had the secret chats between Horner and the girl without internal infiltration? Why does Chalerm Yoovidhya, who holds 51% of the shares of Red Bull GmbH, show up in Bahrain and have himself photographed almost exclusively with Horner? And why did Verstappen celebrate practically only with Marko and Newey in Parc Fermé? Evidently the internal climate is divided, which also emerged from the rumors regarding the investigations, which made the Thai patron Horner's only ally within the Board of Directors.

On the other side there are Helmut Marko and the Verstappen family, who have the Austrian leaders behind them (Mark Mateschitz and Oliver Mintzlaff). Yes, the Verstappen family, because if Max isn't exposing himself, dad Jos is doing it, as has happened many other times in his son's career. That, between explicit declarations and “ad hoc” conversations with his adversaries, he is sending a clear message: “Either Horner or Max“. And, at this point, it could also be explained how the Netherlands knew the nature of Horner's private chats.