As Christian Horner is sacked by Red Bull, what were the allegations levelled against him by a colleague?
Christian Horner has been sacked by Red Bull Racing after the team’s dismal slump in form.
The F1 team boss, who has been at the helm since Red Bull joined the grid in 2005, has been replaced by RB team principal Laurent Mekies with immediate effect.
Horner, 51, finds himself ousted from the sport under a cloud - and not only because of Red Bull’s performance this season.
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen has won just two races so far this season, while the merry-go-round of second drivers has continued, with Liam Lawson being replaced after two grand prix by Yuki Tsunoda, who has also failed to impress in a Red Bull car that has such a narrow operating window, only a generational talent like Verstappen can hope to tame it.
But what really raised eyebrows last season were the allegations levelled against Horner by another Red Bull employee, who to this day has not been named.
At last year’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Horner was cleared following an internal investigation into claims of wrongdoing by a female staff member at Red Bull, only for hundreds of WhatsApp messages, appearing to be exchanged between Horner and the complainant, were leaked to the F1 world.
As the teams gathered in the garages to start the season, the great and the good of the F1 paddock were sent a Google Drive folder of these WhatsApp messages, which contained blatant flirting/sexting - complete with F1 terminology - and pictures allegedly sent by Horner to the female colleague.
This folder then made its way to the wider internet, and was spread like wildfire through social media sites like X and Reddit.
Horner, married to former Spice Girls singer Geri Halliwell, fought on and was cleared internally on two occasions, but he lost a number of key figures at Red Bull, with design guru Adrian Newey, chief designer Rob Marshall and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley all departing.
Verstappen’s future at Red Bull has also been in the spotlight. His father, Jos, claimed in Bahrain a year ago that Red Bull would “explode” if Horner remained in his role.