Christian Horner was strongly convinced he would be eligible for a knighthood before the toxic WhatsApp scandal involving him engulfed Formula 1 – but the editor who has been threatened with legal action over the publication of a 19-page bombshell – report on the storm at Red Bull has suggested that possibility is now ‘gone forever’.
The controversial team boss was cleared of wrongdoing last Wednesday by an independent investigation called by his team’s parent company Red Bull GmbH, but less than 24 hours later a tranche of WhatsApps and photos were distributed anonymously to key figures in the sport claiming to be Horner show sending sexually suggestive messages to the female employee at the center of the investigation.
The 50-year-old has denied 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 Formula 1 trade magazine 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 boss is viewed in the sport, and in turn his chances of receiving royal honors to influence.
“He is very proud,” Rubython said of Horner, “he had the perfect life and he would have been eligible for a knighthood if (Red Bull and Max Verstappen) had won a fourth championship.
Christian Horner would be eligible for a knighthood if he had won a fourth consecutive world title with Max Verstappen
Longtime colleague and technical director Adrian Newey was also a Red Bull figure thought to be in line for the honor
During last weekend’s Grand Prix weekend, Horner was publicly supported by his wife Geri Halliwell
‘He and Adrian Newey (Red Bull’s technical director) would both have received a knighthood, and that is (in my opinion) gone forever.
“I just hope this didn’t bother Adrian, Adrian is one of the nicest guys in the paddock.”
Horner – who is married to Spice Girl Geri Halliwell – projected a life of endless glamour, of success on the grid during Verstappen’s era of racing dominance, and celebrity.
Tom Rubython’s magazine is for subscribers only
In December, Halliwell threw her husband a surprise 50th birthday party, attended by celebrities including Sir Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Gary Barlow, as well as her ex-bandmate Emma Bunton.
At the Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend, Halliwell flew to Horner 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 over,” Rubython continued. “That’s what he’s lost, that whole scenario of perfection in a life. I can’t think of anyone else in celebrity public life who has had such a publicly perfect life, other than (the end of his relationship) with his previous partner, there was nothing attached to him.”
Rubython emphasized that Horner was “very personable” in his dealings with the press, and that “when we have written things about him in the past, he has never resented us and has been pragmatic.”
But the 19-page article that Rubython published – which names the female employee allegedly at the center of the scandal and adds further details to the ruckus at Red Bull – during the race weekend has prompted a different kind of response from the team boss led.
The editor has received correspondence from Horner’s legal representative alleging that Rubython’s reporting has been unlawful and defamatory, stating that the article seriously damages Horner’s reputation.
The company is also said to have violated privacy laws and has demanded that Rubython be taken offline and no longer printed on paper.
“I just don’t find the article defamatory,” Rubython said of the piece, which is behind a paywall to all but the magazine’s subscribers. ‘We are a trade magazine, we are used to writing these kinds of stories.
“We do this every day, we know the background, we know all these characters.
Halliwell (centre) gave Horner a surprise 50th birthday party full of familiar faces last year
Jos Verstappen called for Horner’s resignation this weekend after the leaks
His son Max (left) started his title defense in strong form when he won 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 from other publications.”
He also added that no criticism of Horner had been made in the reporting and that the magazine had “not accused him of anything.”
Rubython suggested that those who wrote to him on Horner’s behalf were ‘also overwhelmed’ by the decision to challenge the article, adding that he ‘must have spent £10,000 with this lawyer on Sunday’.
Horner’s future as team boss may yet be decided against the backdrop of an internal power struggle within the British manufacturer, with the Brit reportedly receiving the backing of Thai majority shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya.
The Austrian faction of Red Bull GmbH led by managing director Oliver Mintzlaff is said to have cooler relations with the team boss, with Horner also said to be at odds with Jos Verstappen, the father of team star Max.
Horner and Verstappen Snr had a heated argument after Friday’s qualifying session ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix, with the latter telling Mail Sport that Horner had to resign or the team would ‘explode’.
Verstappen Snr and Jnr both work closely with the team’s motorsport advisor, Dr. Helmut Marko, who attended the former’s birthday party in Dubai on Monday evening.
Three-time world champion Verstappen is believed to have included a release clause in his £50million-a-year contract linked to Marko’s future with the constructor after heavily pushing for his contract extension last season.
Marko was thought to have felt increasingly sidelined by Horner following the death of team founder Dietrich Mateschitz in 2022, leaving a significant power vacuum within the constructor.
Majority shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya (right) visited the Red Bull garage on Saturday
Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Dr. Helmut Marko is closely linked to the Verstappen family
The late Dietrich Mateshitz (pictured in 2008) would have handled the turmoil at Red Bull differently, claims Rubython
Mateschitz had an all-important veto, giving him full oversight of the team, a hallmark of the role that neither his successors nor his son Mark fill.
Rubython believes Horner has developed ‘a master of the universe complex’ that saw him battle for supremacy during the 2023 season, and argues that under Mateschitz the unfolding chaos at Red Bull would have looked very different.
“If this had happened under Dietrich Mateschitz, he would have marched out the door immediately,” Rubython emphasized. ‘Mateschitz was a wonderful person, but he would not tolerate anyone stepping outside his own moral code.
“He was a very benevolent boss, but if you pushed him he turned into the opposite.”