The person whose allegations against Christian Horner were investigated and dismissed by Red Bull has reportedly complained to the FIA.
The individual has lodged a formal complaint about Horner with the FIA’s Ethics Committee, the BBC claims.
Two other reports concerning Horner were also made to the FIA’s ethics and compliance hotline. The first occured in early February, days before Red Bull confirmed its independent investigation into Horner’s conduct, and the second a month later. RaceFans has approached the FIA for comment.
Horner has consistently denied any wrongdoing since the independent investigation was first confirmed by the F1 team’s owner, Red Bull Austria. Horner was not suspended during the internal investigation, which ultimately dismissed the complaint against him. He attended the pre-season test in Bahrain and the opening two rounds of the season, which the team won.
Before the investigation concluded, the FIA issued a statement saying it remained “committed to upholding the highest standards of integrity, fairness and inclusivity within the sport,” but that it would not comment further. During the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said the situation was “damaging the sport”.
The staff member behind the allegations is reported to have brought an appeal against the investigation and been suspended by Red Bull.
Red Bull stated that its investigation was “fair, rigorous and impartial” but stressed that the findings of the probe were “confidential”. However some material which allegedly emerged during the investigation was widely leaked during the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend.
Despite the complaint against Horner being dismissed, some of Horner’s rival team principals called for greater transparency from Red Bull about the investigation.
“It’s the responsibility, ultimately, of the organisers of Formula 1, the owners of Formula 1, to make sure that all the racing teams and the personnel and the drivers and everyone involved in this sport are operating in a manner which we all live by,” said McLaren CEO Zak Brown.
“I don’t think it’s the teams’ roles and responsibilities. It’s up to FIA and Formula 1 to ultimately decide, and to ask what they feel gives them the level of transparency that they need to ultimately come to their conclusion and we just have to count on them that they fulfil that obligation to all of us.”
This article will be updated.
Formula 1
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