12 February 2024 , 21:07
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Bernie Ecclestone has advised Christian Horner to step down as Red Bull Racing's chief executive and team principal after an allegation of inappropriate behaviour was made against him, it's been claimed.
Horner has strongly denied the claim against him. He is currently being investigated by Red Bull's parent company and met with an external investigator on Friday to tell his side of the story. It is understood the matter is unlikely to be resolved before Red Bull Racing's season launch on February 15.
However, former F1 chief Ecclestone is said to have urged Horner to quit. According to F1 Insider, the 91-year-old has 'intervened and advised his friend to resign' in a bid to 'avoid further damage to himself and his family'.
Both Horner and his accuser are continuing to work in their respective roles and no matter what the outcome of the investigation, it will be a significant distraction for Red Bull heading into the 2024 season.
They have been the dominant team in recent years, with Max Verstappen winning three consecutive world titles, and remain the heavy favourites heading into the new campaign despite the uncertainty surrounding Horner's future.
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Chief technical officer Adrian Newey, meanwhile, is confident their new RB20 car will bring yet more success this year. "Our car will be very much a third evolution of the '22 car," he told the Talking Bull podcast.
"Last year's car was an evolution of the '22, the main points [of difference] being the normal winter development in terms of aerodynamics and some understanding on what we needed to do with suspension to try to improve the car as well, and getting weight out of it – because we never got down to the weight limit in '22.
Horner is being investigated by Red Bull's parent company after an allegation of inappropriate behaviour was made against him (Getty Images)"This year's car is the third evolution of that original RB18. Now what we don't know, of course, is the third evolution too conservative while others have done something different? You just don't know.
"There is that [dilemma] of: should we have a group that goes out and looks at completely left-field ideas, or do we keep developing the route we've taken? We're resource limited, so we can't do everything.
"We can't look at every avenue, so we've taken the approach of developing what we've got. Hopefully that'll be the prudent thing."
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