A female employee who accused Red Bull team principal Christian Horner of inappropriate behaviour has had her appeal against an investigation that dismissed her complaint dismissed.
Since proceedings began in late March, the employee’s appeal has been reviewed by the independent KC, which has reviewed the initial investigation and contacted Horner and the complainant in the process. This week a decision that the appeal was unsuccessful was presented to the board of directors of Red Bull GmbH, Red Bull’s parent company, which has accepted the decision.
Employees were apparently informed on Thursday when Red Bull released a statement: “Earlier this year a complaint was investigated against Christian Horner,” the company said. “The complaint was dealt with through the company’s complaints handling procedure, with an independent KC appointed who dismissed the complaint.”
“The complainant exercised his right of appeal and the appeal was conducted by a separate, independent KC. All stages of the appeal procedure have been exhausted with the final result that the appeal is not allowed. The KC’s conclusions have been accepted and adopted by Red Bull. The internal procedure has now been concluded.”
A Red Bull Racing spokesman said the team would not comment further but reportedly believes this brings closure to an incident that has cast a shadow over the first half of the 2024 F1 season.
The employee, who has not been named, is believed to have made the allegations against Horner in November last year and the allegations were made public in early February. Following an independent investigation carried out by British lawyers, Red Bull Racing’s parent company, which led the investigation, dismissed the allegations on the eve of the season’s first race in Bahrain on February 28.
The friend said the employee had felt “extremely upset, angry, scared, intimidated and alone” in April and was “struggling to comprehend” the investigation’s conclusions.
Horner has always strongly denied any wrongdoing and sought to settle the matter after the complaint was dismissed. However, things soon became more complicated when emails purportedly containing exchanges between Horner and the complainant were leaked to team officials, F1, the FIA and the media. Horner has always refused to comment on the anonymous emails leaked to the press.
There have been repeated calls from other teams, F1 and the FIA for the findings to be made public, but Red Bull claims confidentiality reasons mean this is not possible. Neither Horner nor any of his employees have commented on the investigation due to non-disclosure agreements signed as part of the investigation process.
The matter has since exposed serious rifts within Red Bull Racing and its parent company and appears to be part of a power struggle between the two bodies aimed at destabilising and removing Horner, but the board’s acceptance and upholding of the appeal decision suggests they now want to get things over with and Horner’s position will not be threatened.
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The employee was suspended after the evidence she gave during the initial investigation was deemed fraudulent. She remains suspended while Red Bull considers its next steps in regards to her position.
The furor surrounding the incident has also exposed rifts within the team, with Jos Verstappen, father of world champion Max Verstappen, twice saying Horner’s position was untenable, while Horner has warned he may leave the team for a time.
Red Bull’s iconic designer Adrian Newey announced his departure and last week sporting director Jonathan Wheatley announced that this season would be his final with the team after 18 years at the team, as he will join Audi as team principal when the team enters F1 in 2026.
