Horner controversy is ‘damaging’ Formula One – FIA chief،
Formula 1 governing body chairman Mohammed Ben Sulayem said on Friday the ongoing controversy surrounding Christian Horner was “harming” the sport, following allegations of inappropriate conduct made against the Formula One director. Red Bull team.
In an interview with the Financial Times, the president of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) said: “It's damaging to the sport… It's damaging on a human level.
Horner was cleared on Wednesday by Red Bull GmbH, the parent company of Red Bull Racing, after an investigation into a complaint of inappropriate behavior made by a woman employed by the F1 team.
On Thursday, files allegedly related to the investigation were widely released to the media. The authenticity of the files, originating from an anonymous email account, has not been verified by ESPN.
“I will not comment on anonymous speculation, but I repeat, I have always denied these allegations,” Horner said in a statement read to reporters Thursday by a team spokesperson. the statement came from Horner, not the Red Bull name.
“I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and cooperated fully every step of the way,” Horner said. “This was a thorough and fair investigation by an independent specialist lawyer, which resulted in the dismissal of the complaint filed. I remain fully focused on the start of the season.
Horner separately visited F1 boss Stefano Domenicali and FIA boss Mohammed Ben Sulayem on Friday to discuss the ongoing controversy which has clouded the start of the new F1 season.
On the track, Red Bull continued where it left off last season, with Max Verstappen taking pole position for Saturday's race in Bahrain.
Horner worked normally throughout the season-opening event and oversaw qualifying from the pit wall as Verstappen beat Ferrari's Charles Leclerc to pole position by 0.2 seconds.
Asked if he still had confidence in Horner's leadership, Verstappen replied: “Look, when I look at how Christian operates within the team, he's been an incredible team leader, so absolutely , from a performance perspective, you can't even do that.” question this.
“So that's what I'm dealing with as well. I talk to Christian a lot, and also throughout the weekend here he's fully committed to the team, he's also here for the performance. Of course, probably a little distracted. But like I said before, we just focus on the performance aspect, and that's how we all work together.”
