A woman who was suspended by Red Bull has appealed against the decision to clear team principal Christian Horner of controlling behavior.
Red Bull’s investigation dismissed the complainant’s grievance earlier this month but she has lodged a formal appeal with the Formula One team’s parent company GmbH.
The employee is understood to have been suspended on full pay as a direct result of Red Bull’s inquiry, which concluded at the end of last month.
The complainant was told she had acted dishonestly and received a legal letter, which gave her five working days on receipt of the letter, to appeal against the outcome of the investigation.
Horner, 50, who has always denied the claims made against him, was allowed to continue in his role when GmbH cleared him of any wrongdoing.
When asked about the matter before the recent Bahrain Grand Prix, Horner said: ‘There was a grievance that was raised, it was dealt with in the most professional manner by the group – not by Red Bull Racing but by the owners of Red Bull Racing, Red Bull GmbH – that appointed an independent KC, that is one of the most reputable KCs in the land, and he took time to investigate fully all of the facts.
‘He interviewed all of the people involved as well as others of interest. He looked at everything and he came to the conclusion where he dismissed the grievance.
‘As far as I am concerned, and as far as Red Bull are concerned, we moved on and we look to the future. The time now is to draw a line under it.’
Horner, meanwhile, is reportedly keen to oust Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey from the all conquering team amid growing tensions between the pair.
Adding fuel to the fire, Max Verstappen’s father Jos called for Horner to be sacked, with an all out civil war between Red Bull’s key players looming.
The fall guy could eventually turn out to be Newey, the driving force behind Red Bull’s rise to the summit of the sport.
Newey has worked for Red Bull since 2006, but German newspaper Auto Motor und Sport, via PaddockNews24, claim that he has grown ‘unhappy’ with the Horner saga, leading to friction with the team principal.
It is claimed that Horner wants to move Newey out of the F1 team into Red Bull’s RB17 hypercar project in order to free up space on the wage bill amid concerns they could breach the budget cap again.
