Outside Line: Don’t be h0rny be a Christian & more Red Bull stories
F1 NewsMonday, 11 March 2024 at 22:35
I have never witnessed such a spectacle in half a century of following just about every pore of Formula 1, this Christian Horner "sex texts scandal" at Red Bull goes from one outrageous episode to another, threatening to destroy one of the finest teams Formula 1 has seen.
Just as Red Bull are set to cruise to another two titles this year (aka seven in four years) and look set to dominate F1 for the foreseeable future, the proverbial 'Scheisse has hit the fan' in a big way at the Austrian team. This has splattered Horner, Helmut Marko, Jos Verstappen and just about all of the main players within the organisation.
Red Bull majority shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya flew in (from wherever billionaires hang out) to attend the Saudi Grand Prix and witness the shenanigans in the team they own.
At this point, the timeline of what is being dubbed by British media as the "Horner sex texts scandal" was that Horner denied any wrongdoing on the day they launched the Red Bull RB20 at a soggy Silverstone before he led the team in Bahrain preseason F1 testing.
The Happy Horner Show in Jeddah was a tad too staged and desperate to believe
Just when it seemed Horner was exonerated, a WhatsApp league reignited the saga, with Jos Verstappen jumping in with a can of gasoline to fan the fires by reporting dissent at Red Bull under Horner's rule and insisting the long-serving (since 2005) Team Principal be fired as he was playing the victim.
With smoking gun in hand, Jos was kept away from Jeddah apparently to rally, while Horner aka Spice Boy and Spice Girl - Geri Halliwell Horner - flaunted their 'love and unity' by hugging and smiling every time a camera was near. And snappers were ever present in Jeddah because this couple is a goldmine for click-seeking UK media who are relishing this squabble with glee.
Meanwhile, Doctor Helmut Marko, a stalwart of the Dietrich Mateschitz era and the late Billioanire's ear on the ground regarding F1 matters was also thrust into the limelight as Red Bull's parent company announced he too was being investigated! Seriously?
Yes! And it was a brief probe because a day or so later Marko announced he was going nowhere. The internal matter at Red Bull was sorted, he basically said: " See you in Australia." He did end off with a cryptic and cheeky line that he and Max were "not going to Mercedes for the moment."
Shortly after publically deriding Horner, in Bahrain, Jos Verstappen was seen in a long conversation with Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff. Fueling the rumour mill which was further fanned by the team boss saying he would do "handstands" to have the Dutch 26-year-old at the Silver Arrows.
Seriously! How the hell did U2 get involved in this Red Bull F1 soap opera?
As mentioned, The Horners did not disappoint the gossip rags as they flaunted their 'affection' for the world to see and, one imagines, pissed off a great many people. Including the female team member who kicked the hornet's nest and exposed the Red Bull can of worms that sat under it.
To take this whole thing to another level of ridiculousness or whatever you want to call it, according to F1 Insider - who have aggressively pursued this story in a manner that has done Horner no favours - the band U2 is planning a song: "Don’t be h0rny be Christian."
Seriously? Yes! Because the RBR female in question is supposedly to be 'related' to The Edge through a brother-in-law, the U2 guitarist is reportedly ready to pen a song about the incident. Seriously! Yes! I struggle to believe it as I write this. But it's out there!
The report adds that somehow the Thai billionaire owners have heard about this and are cooling on their red-hot support for Horner, which they have shown throughout this saga.
Hence reports Horner will not be calling the shots in Australia where F1 heads next for Round 3 of the World Championship are growing in number. And hard not to report that the man who has headed Red Bull since its first race back in 2005, may not be in that chair when F1 sets up camp in Melbourne.
There's even more intrusion ahead for Horner as this saga is nowhere near over
The team boss will know his accuser is appealing the decision by Red Bull. Suggesting she is happy to go to war and give her side of the story.
Perhaps inspired by the lack of taste 'The Spices' showed parading themselves as they did in the Jeddah paddock. It was cringey, no matter how you look at it and a proper wind-up to his accuser. It wound me up and I am not even involved!
This story is nowhere near conclusion and remains a turd that won't flush for Red Bull, the team Horner led to what it is today and what it was in the past may have a new face at the helm next time we report about this sorry sideshow that has the F1 world so engrossed.
The line is fine, it could be today or tomorrow, anytime that we run the headline: "Horner fired."
That's how uncertain it is. If he is indeed axed or suspended, it will most likely to be before F1 jets into Melbourne, and that's according to more than one commentator.
Whatever the case, that Red Bull's mighty F1 operation has got to this, is mind-boggling and shows how stupid self-entitled people in high places can be and even what appeared to be the sturdiest of organisations was merely a house of cards. What next?
Big Question: Will Christian Horner be the team principal of Red Bull when F1 jets to Australia?
Latest News
Loading
