McLaren CEO Zak Brown has called for the Formula 1 sanctioning body, the FIA, to review Red Bull’s investigation into allegations made against Christian Horner’s conduct toward a female colleague, saying the process has left “unanswered questions.”
A Red Bull statement released Wednesday read: “The independent investigation into the allegations made against Mr. Horner is complete, and Red Bull can confirm that the grievance has been dismissed.”
Further details were kept confidential, however, Red Bull noted the “complainant has a right of appeal” but added that it “is confident that the investigation has been fair, rigorous and impartial.”
Speculation continues regarding the matter, though, and Brown believes further transparency is needed.
“I read the statement,” Brown admitted to media including Motorsport Week during Thursday’s press conference in Bahrain.
“From what I’ve seen, there continues to be a lot of rumours and speculation.
“I think the sanctioning body has a responsibility and authority to our sport, to our fans. I think all of us in F1 are ambassadors for the sport on and off the track and so I think they need to make sure that things have been fully transparent with [Red Bull].
“I don’t know what those conversations are [but] it needs to be thorough, fully transparent and that they come to the same conclusion that has been given by Red Bull.
“I think until then, they’ll continue to be speculation because there are a lot of unanswered questions about the whole process.
“And I don’t think that’s healthy for the sport.
“I think it’s the responsibility ultimately of the organizers of Formula One, the owners of Formula One, to make sure that all the racing teams and the personnel and the drivers and everyone involved in the sport are operating in a manner in which we all live by.
“I don’t think it’s the team’s roles and responsibilities.”
Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff agreed with Brown that further transparency is needed regarding Red Bull’s investigation given F1’s standing as a global sport with a large influence.
However, the Austrian added that his opinions come from viewing the situation from an outside perspective.
“There is a lady in an organization that has spoken to HR and said there is an issue and it was investigated and yesterday the sport has received the message it’s all fine,” Wolff said.
“I believe that with the aspiration as a global sport on such critical topics, it needs more transparency and I wonder what the sport’s position is.
“We cannot afford to leave things in the vague and in the opaque on critical topics like this, because this is gonna catch us out.
“We are in a super transparent world, eventually, things are gonna happen.
“I think it’s sometimes very short-sighted to try to, suppress it, but not saying this has happened, you know, we are standing from the outside and looking at it, but just as a looking at statements or at press releases or timelines, it just seems that it’s a bit not as modern as things go in the real world.
“But maybe in Formula One, we just have a little bubble and we think we think that’s okay.”
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