(Jeddah) The Red Bull employee who accused Formula 1 team boss Christian Horner of “inappropriate behavior” has been suspended after he was cleared following an internal investigation. we learned Thursday from a source close to the matter.
The employee who accused Christian Horner of “inappropriate behavior” was suspended, this source explained, specifying that this suspension was a direct consequence of the internal investigation now closed.
“Red Bull cannot make any comments on the individual situation of an employee of the company,” the reigning world champion team only commented to AFP on Thursday, the day of the first free practices before the GP of Saudi Arabia to Jeddah.
After an internal investigation, the opening of which was announced on February 5, the board of directors of the Austrian firm rejected this employee’s complaint last Wednesday and retained its confidence in the boss of the Milton Keynes-based team.
This decision was criticized for the lack of transparency of the process, notably by several rival teams.
The following day, an anonymous email containing messages purporting to implicate Horner was sent to representatives of the media covering F1, motorsport officials and even competing teams. The contents of this email could not be independently verified.
And after the Bahrain GP won by triple world champion Max Verstappen, his father Jos Verstappen said the Red Bull team would “explode” if Horner kept his job.
The Briton has always denied the facts with which he was accused and said he was convinced after the opening GP of the season that his position was not threatened by the fallout from the investigation.