Christian Horner was firmly believed to be in line for a knighthood before the toxic WhatsApp scandal involving him in Formula One, but the editor who has been threatened with legal action over the publication of an explosive 19-page report on The storm at Red Bull has suggested that possibility is now “gone forever”.
The team principal was cleared of misconduct thanks to an independent investigation called by his team’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH, last Wednesday, but less than 24 hours later, a series of WhatsApps and images were circulated anonymously among figures key to the sport that they intended to show Horner. sending sexually suggestive messages to the employee at the center of the investigation.
The 50-year-old has denied any wrongdoing and refused to comment on “anonymous speculation from unknown sources” but has stepped up the fight to clear his name and is threatening legal action against Tom Rubython, editor-in-chief of Business Magazine of Formula One Business F1.
Rubython told Mail Sport that the investigation and subsequent leaked messages allegedly sent by Horner will have a lasting impact on the way the team manager is viewed in the sport, which in turn will affect his chances of receiving royal honours.
“He’s very proud,” Rubython said of Horner, “he had the perfect life and was in line to be knighted, if (Red Bull and Max Verstappen) had won a fourth championship.”
It is believed Christian Horner would have been in line for a knighthood had he claimed a fourth consecutive world title with Max Verstappen.
Adrian Newey, a long-time colleague and technical director, was also a Red Bull figure thought to be under consideration for the honour.
At last weekend’s grand prix, Horner publicly supported his wife Geri Halliwell.
“He and Adrian Newey (Red Bull technical director) would have been knighted, and that (in my opinion) is gone forever.”
“I just hope Adrian hasn’t been affected by this, Adrian is one of the nicest men in the paddock.”
Horner, who is married to Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, projected a life of endless glamour, from successes on the grid during Verstappen’s era of racing dominance to celebrity.
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In December, Halliwell threw her husband a surprise 50th birthday party attended by luminaries including Sir Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Gary Barlow, as well as her former bandmate Emma Bunton.
At the Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend, Halliwell flew to Horner’s side to join him in the paddock in a show of marital unity, but Rubython suggested that despite impressive efforts, the image of perfection had been shattered.
“His celebrity lifestyle is gone,” Rubython continued. ‘That’s what she’s lost, that whole scenario of perfection in a life. ‘I can’t think of anyone else in public life who has had such a perfect public life, except (the end of his relationship with) his previous partner, there was nothing attached to him.’
Rubython emphasized that Horner was “very affable” in his dealings with the press, and that “whenever we wrote something about him in the past, he never held it against us, (he has) been pragmatic.”
But the 19-page article published by Rubython – which names the employee said to be at the center of the scandal and adds more details about the melee at Red Bull – over the race weekend has sparked a different kind of response from part of the team manager.
The publisher has received correspondence from Horner’s legal representation alleging that the Rubython reports have been unlawful and defamatory, stating that the The article seriously damages Horner’s reputation.
The article also allegedly violated the company’s privacy laws, and they demanded that Rubython be taken offline and no longer printed in hard copies.
“I just don’t think the article is defamatory,” Rubython said of the article, which is behind a paywall for everyone but the magazine’s subscribers. ‘We are a specialized magazine, we are used to writing this type of stories.
‘We do this every day, we know the background, we know all these characters.
Halliwell (centre) gave Horner a surprise for his 50th birthday last year, filled with famous faces.
Jos Verstappen called for Horner’s resignation over the weekend after the leaks
His son Max (left) began his title defense in fine form by winning the Bahrain Grand Prix.
‘(So I) didn’t really expect (to be threatened with legal action). “I thought this would get lost in all the articles in other publications.”
He also added that Horner had not been criticized in the report and that the magazine “had not accused him of anything.”
Rubython suggested those writing to him on Horner’s behalf were “overwhelmed too” by the decision to challenge the article, adding that he “must have spent £10,000 on Sunday with this solicitor”.
Horner’s future as team principal could still be decided in the context of an internal power struggle within the British constructor, with the Brit said to have the backing of Thai majority shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya.
The Austrian faction of Red Bull GmbH led by CEO Oliver Mintzlaff is believed to have cooler relations with the team principal, and Horner is also believed to be at odds with Jos Verstappen, father of the team’s star driver Max.
Horner and Verstappen senior were seen having a heated argument after Friday’s qualifying session ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, with the latter telling Mail Sport that Horner should resign or the team would “explode”.
Verstappen father and son are closely aligned with the team’s motorsports advisor Dr Helmut Marko, who attended the former’s birthday party in Dubai on Monday night.
Three-time world champion Verstappen is believed to have a release clause in his £50m-a-year contract linked to Marko’s future at the constructor, after strongly advocating his contract extension last season.
Marko was thought to be feeling increasingly marginalized by Horner following the death in 2022 of the team’s founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, which left a significant power vacuum within the constructor.
Majority shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya (right) visited the Red Bull garage on Saturday.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko is closely allied with the Verstappen family
The late Dietrich Mateshitz (pictured in 2008) would have handled the tumult at Red Bull differently, Rubython claims.
Mateschitz had a very significant veto power that gave him complete supervision of the team, a characteristic of the role that neither his successors nor his son Mark play.
Rubython believes Horner has developed “a master of the universe complex” that saw him fight for power during the 2023 season, and maintains that under Mateschitz, the chaos unfolding at Red Bull would have been completely different.
“If this had happened under Dietrich Mateschitz, he would have been expelled immediately,” Rubython stressed. ‘Mateschitz was a magnificent human being, but he would not tolerate anyone departing from his own moral code.
“He was a very benevolent boss, but if you pressured him, he became the complete opposite.”
