Jos Verstappen reportedly called NFI’s Christian Horner at his birthday party but questioned the rest of Red Bull’s top brass when it emerged that star driver Max’s father is close to the woman at the center of the sexting scandal.
Verstappen Sr. celebrated his 52nd birthday at a luxury hotel in Dubai on Monday night with his son, 26, the star driver’s manager Raymond Vermeulen and Red Bull Formula One team principal Helmut Marko among the guests.
However, team boss Christian Horner, 50, was not invited, even though he will also stay in Dubai after the Bahrain Grand Prix. according to Bild.
It came as Jos was dragged deeper into the Horner scandal amid claims he is friends with the woman the F1 boss is accused of sexting. There are also growing questions for Red Bull about what they knew about the unnamed employee’s relationship with both men before Horner was cleared of wrongdoing six days ago.
Sources have claimed that Jos has been friends with the co-worker who complained about Horner for at least three years.
They were even said to have looked comfortable together on a yacht in Abu Dhabi in November 2021, celebrating Red Bull’s victory in a Grand Prix where their son beat Lewis Hamilton to win the World Drivers’ Championship.
This supposed coziness and Jos’s friendship with the Red Bull employee are being presented by Horner supporters as a potential player in what appears to be a deep dislike of Geri Halliwell’s husband on Jos’ part.
Horner, affected by the scandal, has a fight with his nemesis Jos Verstappen, father of Red Bull’s star driver Max, on camera in Bahrain.
Jos Verstappen, father of F1 driver Max, in another animated conversation with Christian Horner in Bahrain six days ago
Horner and his wife Geri Halliwell formed a united front during the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday.
Horner and Verstappen are at odds with each other over complaints made by a woman at the center of the dispute amid rumors Jos wants Christian fired or will push for his superstar son Max to move to rivals Ferrari or Mercedes.
Verstappen senior was forced to deny leaking the files last week and also denied leaking news about the complaint procedure against Horner to a Dutch newspaper.
A source with knowledge of the dispute today told MailOnline that it shows Formula 1 is a “dirty world”.
The feuding men were even seen on television in the middle of a heated fight at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where both men gesticulated wildly inside a glass Red Bull trailer.
While details of the conversation remain between them, it sparked online speculation that Jos may have been defending the employee.
Despite the claims made about Horner, the woman remains an employee of Red Bull in Milton Keynes, where she has worked in a management position for the past four years.
Jos’s son Max is also being dragged into the battle for control at Red Bull.
He has refused on four occasions at press conferences over the past weekend to offer Horner unconditional support. Insiders have said he is believed to generally support his father’s position.
Many believe the three-time world champion could try to force a move to Ferrari and join Lewis Hamilton if Horner keeps his £8million-a-year job. There will also be an empty seat at Mercedes when Lewis leaves at the end of 2024.
His father further stirred the situation over the weekend when he was seen speaking to Ferrari boss Toto Wolff.
Jos has insisted Red Bull would ‘explode’ if Horner remains as team principal after messages and images the Red Bull team principal sent to an employee were leaked. He says Christian is playing the victim.
Red Bull has denied an F1 trade magazine’s explosive allegations about Horner in a 19-page investigation that names the staff member he allegedly sent text messages to.
Max Verstappen, who won the Bahrain Grand Prix at the weekend, with Red Bull boss Horner
Max (centre) chats with Horner (also wearing a Red Bull shirt) and his father (right) at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix alongside Flavio Briatore (left).
The woman at the center of Christian Horner’s sexual misconduct allegations that threaten to blow up the Red Bull F1 racing team has worked for RedBull for four years, MailOnline revealed yesterday.
The attractive blue-eyed blonde’s claims against Horner, 50, have lit a fuse not only for the successful motorsport team, but also for Horner’s marriage to former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.
The woman, whom MailOnline is not naming, was identified in an article published today by BusinessF1 magazine.
Sources claim that Horner began developing a “superiority complex at Red Bull” last year.
The BusinessF1 article states: “There were incidents where Horner sent her text messages during the Grand Prix weekends asking her to come to his room.
Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing last month following an internal investigation at Red Bull into “coercive behaviour” towards his colleague. However, messages that were supposedly between the couple were later leaked.
The leaked messages appear to show that Horner sent her suggestive texts and intimate photographs which are believed to be the main evidence of her complaint to Red Bull GmbH. There were reportedly more than 100 text messages and photographs.
According to the article, the woman who studied at the University of Edinburgh and comes from a wealthy background, began working in motorsport in the mid-2000s after being hired during her summer holidays and then after graduating , like worker intern.
Horner, the husband of former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, is facing more criticism after screenshots of a text conversation allegedly between the 50-year-old and the employee making allegations were leaked via an anonymous email. of “coercive behavior” against them.
Jos (along with his son Max) told Mail Sport that Red Bull would ‘explode’ if Horner kept his leading role in the team.
At first he enjoyed working at Red Bull, especially the travel and excitement of the F1 grid.
But sources close to her claim that after a few years Horner’s attitude changed and she did not know how to deal with the change in their relationship.
“At first she was flattered but then horrified by the personal implications,” it was stated.
The new allegations emerged as images emerged of scandal-hit Horner having a fight with his nemesis Jos Verstappen, father of Red Bull’s star driver Max.
However, Horner’s attempts to move on from the scandal were hampered by the publication of the lengthy investigation into the case on BusinessF1.
The article presents a series of new accusations against Horner and documents the apparent power struggle at the top of Red Bull.
Sources close to Horner have dismissed the article as “full of inaccuracies”, but his critics may take advantage of it.
The most prominent of these has been Verstappen’s father Jos, who warned that the ongoing scandal was “dividing the team”.
Footage has emerged of the pair having a lively exchange at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday.
The article claims that when the woman first made her claims, Horner’s first call was to former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, 93, for advice.
Despite the controversy off the track, on the circuit Horner’s Red Bull team had a perfect start to the season, with Max Verstappen winning the first race of the season ahead of his Red Bull teammate Sergio Pérez .
However, Max’s father Jos has become one of Horner’s harshest critics, and the pair were filmed having a heated conversation after qualifying on Friday night.