Daniel Ricciardo has admitted he is “sorry for” Christian Horner and says he hopes the current Red Bull scandal that has rocked Formula One will “go away”.
A tranche of WhatsApp messages and photographs Horner allegedly sent to a female employee were leaked a day after Red Bull cleared the 50-year-old of “coercive behavior towards a female colleague” ahead of the start of the 2024 season in Bahrain.
Unsurprisingly, all eyes were on Horner during the first racing weekend of the season, with his wife, Geri Halliwell, traveling to the Middle East to form a united front with her beleaguered husband.
But despite their public show of unity, there is still unrest at Red Bull. Jos Verstappen, father of three-time world champion Max, called for Horner to leave or risk allowing the team to “explode”.
And Ricciardo, who shares a close bond with Horner after the 50-year-old gave him a second lifeline in F1 last year, wants the matter to be cleared up as soon as possible.
Daniel Ricciardo has shared his opinion on the scandal surrounding Christian Horner
Red Bull’s embattled boss has been fighting for his job this month
“Of course, you want things to be more fluid than they are,” he told RTBF Sport in Saudi Arabia.
“Right now there is a lot of noise and distraction, without a doubt. Look, the way (Red Bull) performed last week, you’d think (nothing happened).
“For them to be able to continue to focus on business at the track, that’s a big strength for them as well, so I hope these things slowly start to go away and they can focus on just being a racing team.”
“It’s not always easy for the drivers either, but they did a good job managing it.”
Before the Bahrain race, Ricciardo said he felt sorry for Horner.
“Coming into the test, we were obviously aware of everything that was happening,” Ricciardo told media, including Crash.net, in Bahrain on Wednesday.
‘But would I say it was a distraction on the track? No, it was not. Knowing that we also have so little time, it was really “I need to focus on myself, my team, my driving” and try to start this week as strong as possible.
‘Do I have feelings for him through all of this? Yes, I’ve known Christian for a long time.
“He’s always been great to me. So I hope there’s a fair outcome and resolution soon.”
Formula One driver Ricciardo, close to Horner, hopes the saga will “go away”
Separately, when asked before Saturday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix if his father regretted his comments, world champion Verstappen said: “I haven’t asked him that, but my father, so I know him from karting , he’s very frank and he’s I’m not a liar, that’s for sure. That’s what I can say about things.
‘My dad and I are very close. We call every day. On the other hand, I’m not the guy who likes to talk a lot about certain things and I just want to focus on driving. “If there are problems, we try to solve them within the team.”
Horner, 50, has vowed to stay in his £8million-a-year job after being cleared of “coercive behaviour” towards a female colleague, although his position was damaged when an extraordinary email, sent anonymously to key F1 figures, revealed that he exchanged sexually suggestive WhatsApp messages with the employee.
Vertappen added: “I don’t see myself in F1 without my father and (coach) Raymond Vermeulen.”
Rumors circulated that Verstappen Sr. reported against Horner for some kind of vendetta. He has flatly denied it to Mail Sport.
Max said: ‘The only one who knows that is my father. People will invent and speculate and believe that he knows why he said certain things, but he is the only one who knows.
“Social media is there to speculate and make things up and there’s not much you can do about it.”