Following a story on a German website that Christian Horner will be fired prior to the upcoming Australian race, Red Bull Racing refuted on Sunday night that Chalerm Yoodivhya, the Thai majority owner, had turned against the team principal.
The website F1-Insider.com, which is also believed to have a close relationship with Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko, published a report stating that Yoodivhya, the 51 percent owner of Red Bull GmbH, was considering firing Horner prior to the upcoming Australian race in two weeks, along with fellow shareholder Mark Mateschitz (49 percent) and CEO Oliver Mintzlaff.
“As Christian has said, he is grateful for the full support of the shareholders,” a Red Bull Racing representative stated.
Telegraph Sport understands Yoodivhya met with Mintzlaff and Franz Watzlawick (CEO Beverages) in Dubai on Sunday, where he lives, presumably to discuss the next steps in the long-running saga.
Horner was cleared of the allegations on Feb 28 following a lengthy investigation carried out by a specialist external barrister. But he remains under huge pressure.
Jos Verstappen, the father of Red Bull’s three-time world champion, publicly called for Horner to quit after the first race in Bahrain, saying the team would “explode” if he remained in post.
The furore blew up again at the second race of the season in Saudi Arabia last week, where Red Bull were once again victorious on the track and in absolute chaos off it.
First Verstappen, when asked whether he supported his father’s opinion on Horner, said he would “always be a team” with his father. Then Marko revealed on Austrian television that he might be suspended by Red Bull, leading to speculation Verstappen might try to trigger the mysterious ‘escape clause’ in his contract, which allegedly allows him to leave should Marko ever be fired.
Verstappen poured petrol on that speculation when he said on Friday night that he could “not continue” at Red Bull without the man who brought him into Formula One.
In the end, Marko doused the flames a little when he told reporters on Saturday that he would be staying at Red Bull, adding that he had had “a good conversation” with Mintzlaff, who was also in attendance in Jeddah.
But there undoubtedly remains huge tension between Horner and Marko, with the latter switching flights back from Jeddah, travelling with Verstappen instead of Red Bull’s team principal, as had originally been planned.
There is now a fortnight before the next race in Australia, in which time it is likely to become clear whether Horner’s accuser, who was suspended by Red Bull in the wake of the investigation, intends to appeal the verdict; whether she starts legal proceedings, which is another rumour which has been floated; and whether any action is forthcoming against Marko.
It is understood there is a separate internal investigation ongoing at Red Bull into the leaks which have taken place over the last few weeks.
Leave a Reply