#Formula #Jos #Verstappen #Christian #Horner #Red #Bull #internal
The overwhelming pace of Red Bull is far from being accompanied by peaceful times inside the Austrian team. The complaint that fell on Christian Horner, team manager, by an employee, caused a high-scale internal earthquake and the aftershocks do not stop. The energy drink giant hired an external lawyer to carry out the investigation, which lasted eight weeks, the verdict of which resulted in the dismissal of the complaint, communicated 24 hours before the start of the season in Bahrain. However, the brief statement published by the company did not clear up the doubts that float in the paddock and in Sakhir the issue grew, so much so that even Jos Verstappen, the father of three-time champion Max, came out with strong statements.
Christian Horner and Jos Verstappen met during the Bahrain GP that opened the 2024 World Cup. Getty Images
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“There is tension here as long as he remains in his position,” Jos shot, without anesthesia, in statements to the English Daily Mail. But he didn’t stop at that, the Dutchman, with a past as an F1 driver, added: “The team is at risk of disintegrating. It can’t go on like this. It will explode. “He plays the victim when he is the one causing the problems.”
Jos’ statements reported by the British newspaper must be prior to Saturday’s race that opened the 2024 World Cup agenda and which was won by Max. Because on the Bahraini night, after the podium ceremony, Horner and Verstappen Sr. met in the Red Bull hospitality, in view of those who passed through the door, and the meeting closed with a hug.
Horner avoided going into details of the investigation and only came to the fore after an anonymous email that reached 100 accounts in which you could see a dossier of photos and WhatsApp messages that were supposedly those sent by the priest to the employee.. No one could give veracity to the material that the F1 team leaders, the category’s leaders, the FIA’s top brass and the journalists with permanent accreditation received. Horner only said that was false.
In statements to the Sky network about whether he expected to be in his position at the Saudi Arabia GP, the Red Bull director assured that “yes, absolutely. Otherwise he would not be here.”
When asked about his boss, Max was full of praise: “When I look at how Christian operates within the team, he has been an incredible team leader.”. So absolutely, from a performance point of view, you can’t even question it. I take care of that too. I talk a lot with Christian. And also, of course, throughout the entire weekend here, he is totally committed to the team,” he noted.
Horner was in Bahrain accompanied by his wife, former Spice Girls member Geri Halliwell, with whom she attended the podium ceremony. With them was the Thai Chaleo Yoovidhya, the largest shareholder of Red Bull, whose fortune amounts to $33.4 billion, according to Forbes. This can translate into a show of support from the company’s boss.
Meanwhile, the issue did not go unnoticed by the FIA. Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of the entity that governs world motorsport, met with Horner and Stefano Domenicali, CEO of FOM (commercial ruler of the category). The Emirati did not hide his concern about the situation and told the Financial Times: “This situation is damaging sport on a human level.” From F1 there was no comment.
Red Bull ended the issue with the verdict of the hired lawyer, however, the story promises to continue adding chapters.
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