22 February 2024 , 15:03
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Christian Horner said he hopes the probe into allegations of misconduct against him from a Red Bull employee will come "as soon as possible".
But the Red Bull team principal insisted he could not comment any further when quizzed on the ongoing investigation during pre-season training in Bahrain on Thursday.
The 50-year-old has not been suspended by Red Bull and having been present at the RB20 launch even at Milton Keynes last Thursday, has been active in the garage during testing at the Sakhir International Circuit. He has vehemently denied all claims made against him.
Asked about the investigation and the accusations levelled at him during Thursday's press conference, Horner replied: "There is a process going on which I am part of that process and I am afraid I cannot comment on it.
"Look, I am really sorry but I cannot comment on the process or the time scale. I think everybody would like a conclusion as soon as possible but I am really not at liberty to talk about the process."
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Horner’s comments come after Mercedes boss Toto Wolff spoke about the situation on Wednesday.
Wolff said: "Formula One and what the teams do... we stand for inclusion, equality, fairness, diversity and that's not only about talking about it but living it day in, day out and I think this is the standards that we are setting ourselves.
"We are a global sport - one of the most important sports platforms in the world - and we are role models. But having said that, there is a lot of speculation that's been happening over the last weeks. Speculation that we have heard of, and lots of things that are going on, and what I think is important at that stage for a process with rigour.
Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff has spoken out about Red Bull's investigation into Christan Horner (Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images)"I think what Red Bull has started as an independent investigation if this is done in the right way with transparency and with rigour, I think that's something that we need to look at - what the outcomes are and what it means for Formula One and how we can learn from that."
"Because we want to talk about racing cars and we want to talk about the sport rather than these kind of very, very critical topics that are more just a teams' issue. It's a phenomenon, or it's an issue for all of Formula One and in general for every individual that works out there."
With Horner in attendance in Bahrain, Red Bull showed that they’ll be the team to beat again this year on the first day of testing as world champion Max Verstappen clocked in at over 1.1 seconds faster than his nearest rival.