21 February 2024 , 15:00
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Toto Wolff has urged Red Bull F1 chiefs to proceed with "transparency" when dealing with the allegations of 'inappropriate behaviour' that are facing Christian Horner.
A staff member has accused the Red Bull team principal of acting inappropriately, with an independent barrister now investigating the claims. Horner strongly denies the allegations.
He was questioned by the barrister at a secret location two weeks ago, with no news yet on the investigation's progress. For now, Horner is continuing his duties as normal and has attended pre-season testing in Bahrain this week.
Mercedes boss Wolff is also attending testing and has spoken for the first time on the allegations facing Horner. The Austrian has called for a rigorous investigation into Horner.
“I think it’s clear Formula 1, and that the teams too, we stand for inclusion, equality, fairness, diversity. And it’s not only about talking about it but living it day in and day out. I think this is the standard that we set ourselves," Wolff said.
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“We are a global sport, one of the most important sports platforms in the world, and we are role models. Having said that, there is a lot of speculation that’s been happening over the last weeks. Speculation that we have all heard of and lots of things that are going on.
“I think what’s important in that stage is to process with rigour. I think for Red Bull it started as an independent investigation, if this is done in the right way with transparency and with the rigour, I think that’s something that we need to look at whatever the outcomes are.
“What it means for Formula 1 and how we can learn from that, because we want to talk about racing cars and we want to talk about this a lot, rather than these kinds of very, very critical topics that are more just the team’s issue.
Red Bull boss Horner is facing allegations of inappropriate behaviour (Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)“So it’s a phenomenon, or it’s an issue, for all Formula 1 and in general, for every individual that works here.”
Once the news of the allegations broke, Red Bull's parent company insisted they are taking the matter "extremely seriously". They have also promised to take action once the full results of the investigation are known.
“After being made aware of certain recent allegations, the company launched an independent investigation. This process, which is already under way, is being carried out by an external specialist barrister," a company statement read.
"The company takes these matters extremely seriously and the investigation will be completed as soon as practically possible. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.”
Testing will take place over Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week. The season then kicks off at the start of March with the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is followed a week later by the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.