Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff calls for ‘more transparency’ from Red Bull investigation into Christian Horner after company rejected complaint of ‘inappropriate behaviour’

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has challenged Formula 1 and its governing body to demand more transparency from Red Bull’s investigation into Christian Horner.

Horner has been cleared to continue as Red Bull team boss following an internal investigation into ‘inappropriate behaviour’ towards a female colleague.

Horner stood on the Red Bull pit wall on Thursday for both training sessions of the new season.

“I’m glad the process is over and I can’t comment on it,” he told Sky Sports. ‘I’m concentrating on the coming season. Within the team, unity (unity) has never been stronger.”

Red Bull Racing’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH, said it was confident the investigation into Horner had been “fair, rigorous and impartial”, but added that the report – expected to run to 150 pages – was “confidential” is.

Team boss Horner was acquitted of misconduct by Red Bull Racing on Wednesday

It is understood that neither Formula 1’s owners, Liberty Media, nor the regulator, the FIA, have seen the report.

However, on Thursday evening there were increasing calls in Bahrain for Red Bull GmbH to share the details of their investigation.

“I just read the statement, which was quite simple,” Wolff said. ‘My personal opinion is that we can’t really see behind the scenes.

“There’s a lady in an organization who spoke to HR and said there was an issue and it was looked into and yesterday the sport got the message that it’s all fine, we’ve looked into it.

‘I believe that as we strive to be a global sport, on such crucial topics, there needs to be more transparency and I wonder what the position of the sport is?

“We are competitors, we are a team and we can have our own personal opinions or not. But it’s more of a general reaction or action that we as a sport have to judge, what is right in that situation and what is wrong.

‘Are we talking with the right moral approach, with the values ​​that are based on the speculations that are out there?

Horner, husband of former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, was accused of ‘coercive behavior towards female employees’, with Red Bull launching their investigation on February 5.

“As a sport, we can’t afford to leave things like this vague and opaque because it’s going to take us by surprise.”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown agreed with his Mercedes colleague.

‘It is ultimately the responsibility of the Formula 1 organisers, the owners of Formula 1, to ensure that all racing teams and staff, drivers and everyone else involved in the sport operate in a way that we all live in. ‘ said the American.

‘I don’t think it’s the roles and responsibilities of the teams. That’s for the FIA ​​and Formula 1 to ultimately decide and ask for what they think will give them the level of transparency they need to ultimately reach their conclusion and we just have to count on them to fulfill that obligation to all of us.’

Formula 1 and the FIA ​​have been contacted for comment.

Horner, who has protested his innocence throughout, was questioned by a lawyer for eight hours at a secret location in London earlier this month.

He has been team boss of Red Bull since they entered Formula 1 19 years ago and is the longest-serving boss on the grid.

He has overseen seven drivers’ world championships and six constructors’ titles.

Horner embraces three-time champion Verstappen in Bahrain ahead of the 2024 curtain-raiser

Red Bull has dominated the sport in recent seasons, winning 21 of 22 races last year, with Dutch driver Max Verstappen setting a new record for 10 consecutive wins as he claimed his third title.

Horner, who is married to former Spice Girls singer Geri Halliwell, was awarded a CBE in the New Year Honors for his services to motorsport.