McLaren chief executive Zak Brown has demanded Formula One and the FIA rubber-stamp Red Bull’s investigation into the conduct of team principal Christian Horner.
Horner was yesterday cleared of displaying inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague following a probe by an independent lawyer, and was back in the pit lane this morning ahead of practice for the season-opening race in Bahrain.
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Brown is not satisfied the outcome draws a line under the matter given the lack of information in the Red Bull statement.
He said: “I think from what I’ve seen there continues to be a lot of rumours and speculation, questions.
“I think the sanctioning body has a responsibility and authority to our sport, to our officials. I think all of us in Formula 1 are ambassadors for the sport on and off the track, like you see in other sports, and so I think they need to make sure that things have been fully transparent with them.
“And I don’t know what those conversations are and that needs to be thorough, fully transparent, and that they come to the same conclusion that has been given by Red Bull, and that they’ve agreed with the outcome.
“But I think until then, there’ll continue to be speculation because there are a lot of unanswered questions about the whole process.
“So I think that’s what’s needed by those that run the sport to really be able to draw a line under it. Until then, I think there’ll continue to be some level of speculation by people and I don’t think that’s healthy for the sport.”
He added: “I think it’s the responsibility ultimately of the organisers of Formula 1, the owners of Formula 1, 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, so I don’t think it’s the team’s roles and responsibilities.
“I think that’s up to the FIA and Formula 1, to ultimately decide and ask what they feel gives them the level of transparency that they need to ultimately come to their conclusion, and we just have to count on them that they fulfil that obligation to all of us.”
Toto Wolff and Zak Brown give their thoughts on Red Bull’s statement that Christian Horner will continue in his role as Red Bull team principal after allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against him were dismissed following an investigation. PIC.TWITTER.COM/PF22SRM4CK
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) FEBRUARY 29, 2024
Toto Wolff, Horner’s counterpart at Mercedes, backed Brown’s view that there was a greater level of transparency needed before everyone could move on.
He said: “My personal opinion is we can’t really look behind the curtain. At the end of the day, there is a lady in an organisation that has spoken to HR and said there is an issue. It was investigated and yesterday the sport has received a message, ‘it’s all fine. We’ve looked at it.’
“And I believe that with the aspirations as a global sport, on such critical topics, it needs more transparency and I wonder what the sport’s position is.
“We are competitors, we are a team and we can have our own personal opinions or not, but it’s more like a general reaction or action that we as a sport need to assess what is right in that situation and what is wrong.”
