Sky F1 pundits Martin Brundle and Damon Hill have shared their initial responses to the announcement that Christian Horner has been exonerated following an external inquiry initiated by Red Bull.
The allegations against Horner involved misconduct towards a female colleague, who filed a formal complaint with the company earlier in the month.
Horner maintained his position as the team principal of Red Bull Racing during the investigation, which was carried out by a lawyer appointed from outside the organization.
Red Bull GmbH released a statement confirming the allegations lodged against Horner have been dismissed and noting that the complainant retains the right to appeal. It further stated: “Red Bull is confident that the investigation has been fair, rigorous and impartial.
“The investigation report is confidential and contains the private information of the parties and third parties who assisted in the investigation, and therefore we will not be commenting further out of respect for all concerned.”
Ahead of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Brundle shared his thoughts on Sky Sports, stating that the verdict has conclusively ended the saga.
“That statement from Red Bull is drawing a solid line underneath the whole thing,” Brundle said. “I’ve just read it, but that appears to be their position.”
He added: “Red Bull the parent company have drawn a very thick and firm line… they’re clear, they’ve done a deep investigation, they’ve talked for hours and many pages of documents have been generated. Case complete, over.
“I find this a very curious business. We knew no facts whatsoever about this story, lots of echoes, rumours which swirl around and become facts… so you can’t comment. We can only go by that statement. A line drawn underneath it. Let’s see if anything else comes out of it now from third parties.”
Sky Sports F1 analyst Naomi Schiff also weighed in on the situation, commending Red Bull for their management of the matter.
“Red Bull is a huge company, it’s a corporate matter, an investigation, and handled independently or not, you’d assume they took this with the utmost seriousness, and they handled it fairly,” Schiff said. “Because it comes at the risk of this going completely wrong, if it’s found out that that is not the case. I believe they’ve done everything they can.
“What they say, there’s a level of discretion because it involves the private lives of people and that doesn’t need to be exposed to the world. We hope that’s clear now and it will not go further unless it has to. You don’t want this looming over the sport.”
