- Christian Horner was acquitted of ‘coercive behavior towards female employee’
- But the texts and photos that the Red Bull director had allegedly sent were leaked on Thursday
- The future of the Red Bull team boss has dominated the run-up to the race
FIA boss Mohammed Ben Sulayem has admitted that the controversy surrounding Red Bull team principle Christian Horner is ‘harming the sport’.
Horner was cleared of wrongdoing following an internal investigation into allegations of ‘inappropriate conduct’. However, further investigation quickly followed after part of what appeared to be intimate WhatsApp conversations with a female colleague were sent to Formula 1’s most influential figures on Thursday.
The bombshell email contained 79 documents, including hundreds of messages, many of which were of a sexual nature.
The story is set during the opening weekend of the new Formula 1 season and the head of the sport’s governing body, who met Horner in person on Friday, has admitted it shows F1 in a negative light.
“It hurts the sport,” Ben Sulayem told the Financial Times. “This is harmful on a human level.”
FIA boss Mohammed Ben Sulayem commented on the saga that has engulfed F1 on the opening weekend of the season
The FIA president personally met with Christian Horner during the third training session on Friday
He further confirmed that the FIA has no plans to investigate the matter themselves as they have not received an official complaint.
According to Sky Sports, Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali and Ben Sulayem met on Friday to discuss the matter.
Horner, who has denied any wrongdoing and refused to comment on speculation, was briefly absent from the Red Bull pit wall during third training on Friday afternoon when he spoke to Ben Sulayem.
On Thursday, Horner’s rival team leaders called on the FIA and Formula 1 to scrutinize Red Bull’s decision.
“I have just read the statement (relating to Wednesday’s decision, following a process that Red Bull GmbH described as ‘fair, rigorous and impartial’), it was quite simple,” Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said.
‘My personal opinion is that we can’t really see behind the scenes. There’s a lady in an organization who spoke to HR and said there was a problem. It has been investigated and yesterday the sport got the message that it is all good, we have looked into it.
The Red Bull team showed no signs of distraction on Friday as three-time world champion Max Verstappen qualified on pole position
‘I believe that as we strive to be a global sport, on such crucial topics, there needs to be more transparency and I wonder what the position of the sport is?’
The season curtain closes with the Grand Prix on Saturday at the Bahrain International Circuit. Defending champion Red Bull starts the defense of their two titles with three-time world champion Max Verstappen at the front of the grid.
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