An unnamed employee accused the team boss of F1 team Red Bull Racing of a sexting scandal
Weeks ago, a female employee of Red Bull Racing has accused the team principal Christian Horner of a sexting scandal.
The principal and CEO of Red Bull Racing is married to former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell. Horner has denied the allegations.
The woman’s name has not been released. However, her allegations note, “inappropriate, controlling behavior.”
The team formed an investigation into the allegations. The independent investigation cleared Horner in late February.
On March 1, text messages were reportedly leaked from the conversation between the woman employee and the team boss. The leak came from a generic email address and was sent to 200 with the email subject, “Christian Horner investigation evidence.”
Of those, it included 80 images of the texting conversation.
Christian Horner comments
“The only reason this has gained so much attention is because of the leakage and the attention that there has been drawn in the media,” Horner said.
“Which has been very trying in many respects, particularly for my family because it has all been focussed very much in one direction.”
“What has happened then after that is that others have looked to take advantage of it. F1 is a competitive business and elements have looked to benefit from it and that is perhaps the not so pretty side of out industry.”
“I am afraid I can’t comment on anything that is confidential between an employee and the company,” Horner said.
“The employee involved is believed to have received the official legal letter informing her of the decision of the investigation at the start of this week and has five days to lodge an appeal.”
“I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and fully cooperated with it every step of the way,” a statement from Horner last Thursday read. “It was a thorough and fair investigation conducted by an independent specialist barrister and it has concluded, dismissing the complaint made. I remain fully focused on the start of the season.”
“I am not going to comment on anonymous speculation from unknown sources,” Horner said Friday.
Red Bull Racing is owned by Red Bull GmbH.
Team suspends the female employee
Following the investigation, the female accuser has been suspended with pay.
“It became obvious that the situation could not continue and it was decided to suspend her on full pay while internal inquiries continue,” a source told The Sun.
This weekend, F1 is racing in Saudi Arabia.
