Max Verstappen refused to express unequivocal support for Christian Horner on Wednesday, just hours after his Red Bull team principal launched an independent investigation into allegations that a female staff member engaged in inappropriate controlling behavior towards him. He was cleared of any wrongdoing.
The investigation began on February 1 after a female Red Bull Racing employee made allegations to the team’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH. No details of the charges have been released, but it is understood they reference what Horner described as “controlling” behavior.
An unnamed British barrister conducted the investigation, which included an extensive interview with Horner lasting more than eight hours.
However, Verstappen did not explicitly back his team principal at the FIA press conference at the Bahrain International Circuit. When asked if he was 100 per cent behind Horner and how he manages the team, the world champion only expressed support for the ongoing investigation.
“I trust the process and that’s what’s happening now,” he said.
Horner was instrumental in bringing Verstappen into F1 and his promotion from Toro Rosso to Red Bull Racing in 2016. At the team that Horner joined as coach in 2005, he saw the Dutchman win three consecutive world championships.
When he was asked to elaborate on the process and whether he had confidence in Horner, he refused to elaborate again.
“I don’t want to get into that,” he said. “Because it’s not my thing at all and I don’t want to get involved. But as a team we do trust the process and we just have to be patient because there’s no need to start saying something and start screaming. You have to have patience.”
Lewis Hamilton also described in a press conference how the investigation and how Red Bull and F1 handle it are crucial to F1’s commitment to diversity.
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The seven-time champion signed with Ferrari until 2025 and will start his final season with Mercedes this week. He has been a champion of inclusion and diversity in F1 and stressed he believed this represented an important moment for the sport.
“We always need to do more to try to make the sport and the environment where people work feel safe and inclusive,” he said. “Any allegation has to be taken very seriously. Obviously we don’t know everything that happened. But it does need to be addressed because it hangs over the sport and see how it is dealt with and what impact it might have on the development of the sport. The impact that may or may not have will be very interesting. It’s a very important moment for the sport to make sure we stay true to our values.”
