Christian Horner has insisted on his innocence throughout Red Bull’s investigation into alleged misconduct and was finally cleared on Wednesday. While Red Bull GmbH, the team’s parent company that launched the investigation, clearly hopes this will put a line on the matter, it will undoubtedly feel vindicated. They don’t deserve this much kindness.
A female employee’s complaint against Horner was dismissed after almost eight weeks of investigation. Accompanying speculation is rife, but nothing in the investigation has been made public, including the nature of the complaint, Horner’s defence, its conclusions or how they were reached.
Relating to: Christian Horner cleared following investigation into his conduct at Red Bull
Red Bull GmbH, which issued the statement, insisted from the beginning that this was a private investigation. As a result, they stated that the information they collected was confidential and that they would have no further comment out of “respect for all concerned.”
This breathtaking lack of transparency was understandable while it lasted, but now, with the full report in hand and a final verdict reached, simply declaring the matter closed is a wholly uninstructive conclusion for all concerned, except perhaps Red Bull GmbH.
On Wednesday, before the announcement was made, Lewis Hamilton, as wise and appreciative of the big picture as ever, observed why this matters beyond the decision.
“We must always do more to ensure sport and the environment in which people work is safe and inclusive,” he said.
“IT [the investigation] It needs to be resolved as it hangs over the sport and it will be really interesting to see how it is addressed in terms of the impact it may or may not have on the sport moving forward. “It’s a really important moment for the sport to make sure we stay true to our values.”
Hamilton’s Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff had demanded transparency and investigation from Red Bull because this was “an issue that concerns the whole of F1”. Worst of all, with Ford joining Red Bull Racing as an engine partner in 2026, Ford CEO Jim Farley wrote a letter to the team expressing his frustration with the “lack of full transparency between us and our corporate partners” and stated that he was waiting to receive an offer. “full description of all findings”.
One wonders whether Farley actually got the full explanation or whether he was rejected himself. If so, he will demand answers, and if he is being given the answers, why not the wider public?
Since no details have been released, it is not possible to make a judgment as to what happened. In fact, even the most senior figures in the sport have expressed dismay, stating that it is difficult to comment or declare this a satisfactory closure when there is no information about what happened or how the results were reached.
In fact, the exact nature of the complaint has still not been officially disclosed. This simple detail would instantly put to rest some of the more lurid rumors still circulating in F1.
This isn’t a good look for the sport, which we’ve been harping on for weeks but have been told has been compromised to Red Bull’s satisfaction, there’s nothing to see here, so please move on.
Yet many things still do not add up. Red Bull GmbH was acting somewhat out of character when it initially made the investigation public. Their modus operandi under these circumstances is often to say nothing, and they could have done so before conducting the entire process behind closed doors. They chose not to, but now they have closed the hatches once again.
It’s an interesting agenda, and one that fits the theory advanced by Horner’s supporters that the way this issue has been handled is part of a power play by elements at Red Bull in Austria aimed at destabilizing or even eliminating Horner.
If this was indeed the case, it was a clumsy, ill-conceived affair, a blunt instrument that quickly became cumbersome and embarrassing. Failure to disclose could have meant that the situation would have become even more complicated if this had been the case. Again, it’s almost impossible to judge without any information.
At the Red Bull car launch two weeks ago, where Horner again emphatically said he had done nothing wrong, he looked a bit worn out as he denied wrongdoing while insisting he could say nothing more because “the process is ongoing”.
On Wednesday before the decision was announced, Red Bull’s world champion Max Verstappen said he “trusted the process”. This process is now complete, but it is almost impossible to trust any case about which nothing is known. This should be obvious to Horner, Red Bull and Verstappen.
If we truly intend to stand by the values of the Red Bull and Formula 1 partnership, as Hamilton rightly suggests, this outcome falls far short in its current form.