CHRISTIAN HORNER hit back at his Formula One rivals by blasting “f*** all of them” in the wake of his sexting scandal.
Red Bull boss Horner, 51, was the main story at the beginning of the 2024 season.
Christian Horner hit out at his F1 rivals in the wake of his sexting scandal last year[/caption]
The Red Bull team principal was cleared of wrongdoing after internal probes into his conduct[/caption]
Leaked photos and messaging allegedly showed him sexting an unnamed colleague behind wife Geri Halliwell’s back asking for[/caption]
The team chief was initially internally investigated amid complaints to HR of alleged “coercive behaviour” towards an anonymous employee.
Then the day after the allegations were thrown out and on the eve of the curtain-raising raise in Bahrain, a dossier of texts and photographs were leaked to key figures and journalists in F1.
That included grubby flirty messages of a sexual nature and pestering requests for images from an unnamed colleague.
The bombshell leaks became the talk of the sport – with barristers heavily involved and Max Verstappen’s dad Jos pushing for his dismissal – as question marks over Horner’s future hung, both for his job as Red Bull chief and his marriage to former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.
An appeal to the original verdict was launched but the Red Bull probe again cleared their chief Horner of wrongdoing in August.
At the time, he said he was “relieved” to put the scandal behind him.
But in the new series of Netflix’s Drive To Survive, behind-the-scenes reaction to the saga makes for dramatic viewing as Horner slammed his fellow team principals who criticised him.
The season covering the 2024 F1 campaign launches on March 7 – and Horner makes use of the cameras to give his verdict.
According to the Daily Mail, Horner says: “The higher you rise, the sharper the knives.
“I’ve reached the top of my game and I never thought in a million years I’d have a challenge like this in my career.
“It was obvious that the end goal was for me to leave Red Bull.
“It’s a crucial time of year, in a job that I do, you’re the front face of the organisation.
“You can either hide away or you can get out there and face it.”
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff called for greater transparency over the Red Bull investigation.
His McLaren counterpart Zak Brown insisted it was crucial to “make sure that all the racing teams and the personnel and the drivers and everyone else involved in the sport are operating in a manner which we all live by”.
But Horner snapped back at Brown and added: “Zak’s a p****. I’ll get through it.
“You find out who your friends are, don’t you?”
Horner and Halliwell arrived at the Bahrain Grand Prix last March hand in hand – determined to put on a united front.
And when the racing finally got underway, Horner and Red Bull put the distractions aside to secure a 1-2 finish in Bahrain with Verstappen claiming the chequered flag ahead of Sergio Perez.
And that was exactly what Horner wanted.
He boasted: “That’s the best way to f*** them all. Shut the f*** up.”
Horner received a CBE from King Charles in December despite the seedy allegations into his behaviour.
But ahead of the new 2025 season getting underway, the principal – who has worked at Red Bull since 2005 – was booed at a launch event in London.
Teams unveiled their liveries and various key individuals spoke on stage at the F1 75 live show at the O2 Arena.
But when controversial Horner took the microphone, he was resoundly booed by many in the audience.
Horner slammed McLaren boss Zak Brown[/caption]
Brown had demanded greater transparency over the Red Bull internal investigations[/caption]
Horner addressed the issue in the new Drive To Survive series[/caption]
The Red Bull boss is now preparing for the new season to get underway[/caption]
