Editor’s be aware, July 9, 2025, 10:45 am ET: On July 9, Crimson Bull’s Formulation 1 crew principal Christian Horner was fired. His elimination adopted a troublesome 12 months for the crew, one which noticed dwindling efficiency, excessive turnover of vital engineers, workers and drivers, and rumors concerning the potential exit of four-time world champ Max Verstappen. As of 10:30 am, a motive hasn’t been made public, however beneath you’ll discover an explainer — initially printed on March 8, 2024 — behind final 12 months’s allegations of sexual harassment, a scandal which will have contributed to the downfall of the once-dominant crew.
The road between spectacle and sport has at all times been blurry. However in relation to Formulation 1 — the worldwide motorsport with among the quickest vehicles and deepest pockets — the largest institutional gamers appear to overlook that there’s a distinction between scrumptious drama and legit controversy.
It’s straightforward to mistake the 2 when a lot of the elite sport’s success could be attributed to Drive to Survive, the addictive Netflix present that explains the intimidating technicalities and stakes of F1 via the catty interpersonal drama between teammates and rivals alike. My colleague Byrd Pinkerton described the present in 2021 this manner: “Mainly, think about the Actual Housewives, if the housewives had been driving round at 300 kilometers an hour, and if sometimes one of many housewives caught on fireplace.”
Previous to reporting this story, I attended a number of races in the previous few years, bonded with an more and more various fan neighborhood, and spoke with pit crew personnel on the 2023 Miami Grand Prix. Right here’s what you have to know:
Have questions? E-mail me: izzie.ramirez@voxmedia.com.
Consequently, F1 has skilled years of explosive progress, particularly within the US. Extra eyes has meant extra races: You might need heard Las Vegas residents griping concerning the development inconveniences and inaccessibility of final November’s brand-new road race. Or how Elon Musk, Shakira, and Vin Diesel rolled out to the Miami Grand Prix. There’s additionally the sheer stardom of the drivers: thirst traps of Lewis Hamilton going viral, Daniel Ricciardo gracing the cowl of GQ, and limitless model offers for almost everybody on the grid. (That’s the place the 20 drivers begin the race!)
Proper now, although, an issue would possibly change how individuals see the ordinarily glitzy sport — particularly the rising feminine fanbase F1 is all too comfortable to courtroom through social media. In 2022, roughly 40 % of followers had been feminine, up 8 % from 5 years in the past, in response to Stefano Domenicali, CEO of the Formulation 1 Group.
In early February, power drink firm and crew proprietor Crimson Bull launched an impartial investigation into its Formulation 1 crew principal, Christian Horner, for potential misconduct towards a crew member. Crimson Bull didn’t specify the small print of the character of the alleged misconduct nor who it was towards, resulting in rumors. Horner, who manages crew technique and personnel, was cleared a couple of days forward of the beginning of the season.
A day after Crimson Bull dismissed the investigation, a Google Drive folder was anonymously despatched to greater than 100 reporters, different crew principals, and members of the Fédération Internationale de l’Car (FIA), the governing physique for the game. The folder comprises almost 80 totally different information, most of that are screenshots of WhatsApp messages between what’s allegedly Horner and a feminine worker.
Vox is at the moment within the means of verifying the pictures and movies. What we will say is that the undated messages embody references to intimate acts, requests to delete messages, and what seems to be a nude image. These WhatsApp messages share house with seemingly skilled communication, together with about whether or not this particular person may do business from home.
Crimson Bull Racing, its father or mother firm Crimson Bull GmbH, and Christian Horner didn’t reply to Vox’s requests for remark concerning the validity of the messages, the character of the investigation, something relating to doubtlessly firing Horner, or whether or not they have opened any new investigations by time of publication.
Whereas controversy isn’t new to F1 — simply have a look at the dishonest scandals, race interference, or the driving force who misplaced his seat as a result of his Russian oligarch father was sanctioned firstly of the warfare in Ukraine — the noise surrounding Horner ought to be greater than fodder for a juicy season of Drive to Survive. It ought to immediate questions round methods to greatest assist the ladies pit crew members, engineers, assistants, and all different staff in a predominantly male sport. If F1 can’t defend its personal feminine workers within the sport, then the efforts to create a pipeline for feminine drivers in addition to make races safer for the latest inflow of feminine followers will fall flat.
At present, a lot of the protection of the controversy is concentrated on whether or not Crimson Bull will be capable to keep its huge lead within the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships, or hypothesis concerning the different particular person’s identification and motivations within the texts, as if that is gossip fodder about actuality stars and never a office concern. As of Thursday morning, Crimson Bull had reportedly suspended a girl who accused Horner of inappropriate conduct. It’s not clear if she is identical particular person within the texts. And on Friday afternoon, it was reported that Crimson Bull adviser Helmut Marko may face suspension.
The way in which all the pieces is shaking out feels extra like gossip, somewhat than a intestine examine to see if the game’s establishments are able to questioning breaches of energy. From the FIA to the person groups and their homeowners, the game has confirmed time and time once more that they conceal behind claims that all the pieces ought to “simply be concerning the racing,” somewhat than having to concern themselves with the individuals who make it attainable. How Formulation 1 decides to maneuver from right here will decide if their efforts to assist ladies workers and its followers have any benefit.
The investigation and allegations towards Christian Horner, defined
Most Formulation 1 followers would say the game is fairly boring in the mean time: Crimson Bull driver Max Verstappen, predictably, will take first place in most races. He’s in a league of his personal. The engineers and management at Crimson Bull Racing assure that.
If you’re always crushing the competitors, others attempt to discover methods to take you down. There are a number of situations documented in Drive to Survive of petty experiences to the FIA. So when Crimson Bull introduced on February 5 that it might be trying into “sure allegations” made towards crew principal Christian Horner, it was arduous to pin down whether or not this was an exterior try and get him fired for competitors’s sake or if there was veracity to the claims of misconduct. Crimson Bull’s deliberately obscure assertion to the media ushered in rumors about “aggressive administration.” Of what variety? The corporate by no means explicitly stated. And it nonetheless gained’t.
“One of many largest quotes from Drive to Survive is (motorsport commentator) Will Buxton at all times saying ‘In F1, when there’s smoke, there’s often fireplace,’” stated Kate Byrne, one of many founders of the fan neighborhood Two Ladies 1 Formulation. She explains that such inner issues not often bubble as much as the general public, however she feels Crimson Bull weighing in was a purple flag, saying it’s attainable they wished to “get in entrance of it by saying one thing. Crimson Bull won’t ever do this on their very own.”
Crimson Bull’s exterior lawyer, who they refuse to publicly identify, cleared Horner of any wrongdoing on February 28 — simply forward of the primary Grand Prix of the season in Bahrain. “Crimson Bull is assured that the investigation has been honest, rigorous, and neutral,” Crimson Bull’s father or mother firm stated in one other assertion. “The investigation report is confidential and comprises the non-public info of the events and third events who assisted within the investigation, and due to this fact we is not going to be commenting additional out of respect for all involved.”
Moreover, in response to some experiences, Crimson Bull was getting ready to fireside Horner as early as February 2 — three days earlier than the investigation announcement — however he had allegedly insisted on arbitration. Horner has not made any statements relating to doubtlessly being fired, and through this week’s press convention, he declined to offer any extra specifics.
“My spouse has been phenomenally supportive, as has my household, however the intrusion on my household is now sufficient,” Horner stated throughout a press convention Thursday in Saudi Arabia. “It’s time now to give attention to why we’re right here, which is to go Formulation 1 racing.”
Who will get to manage the narrative?
Horner’s profession will doubtless be unaffected, given the portrayal of this investigation as merely a scandal somewhat than a possible office misconduct difficulty. F1 and Crimson Bull are definitely guaranteeing that Horner is ready to do “enterprise as regular.” So naturally, all eyes had been on Crimson Bull’s two drivers, Max Verstappen and Checo Perez, to scope out their efficiency final weekend. There have been issues, some raised by Max’s father Jos, who’s a former racer, that issues at Crimson Bull would possibly “explode” if nothing is completed. If it’s true that tensions had been rising inside the crew, it might be evident within the first race, no?
As if. Verstappen led the race by a large margin of about 20 seconds between him and his teammate. Merely put, he was coasting, taking his monster of a automobile for a pleasure trip, whereas no rivals even got here shut. It was like watching Simone Biles on a playground. After Verstappen snagged first place, Horner was proper in entrance of the rostrum together with his spouse, former Spice Woman Gerri Halliwell, and the inheritor of the Crimson Bull fortune, Chalerm Yoovidhya. “Higher to do your speaking on the monitor,” Horner stated after the race.
F1 Crimson Bull crew principal Christian Horner (middle) together with his spouse Geri Halliwell and Crimson Bull co-owner Chalerm Yoovidhya on the 2024 F1 Bahrain Grand Prix in March. Clive Rose/Getty Photographs
Concentrate on the continued dominance of the Crimson Bull crew misses the purpose, nonetheless. Verstappen will proceed to carry out simply positive no matter tensions, however there are a whole lot of ladies who work for F1 groups who, due to F1’s normal mishandling of this complete scenario, are being tacitly advised that their experiences and security inside the sport don’t matter. In the event that they converse up, they might be ridiculed — all due to the obsessive give attention to successful races and rankings.
And but, the FIA and Crimson Bull have made no statements or guarantees about how they’re going to assist ladies (and nonbinary and trans) staff in mild of the dialog round Horner. Even the whispers of such conduct ought to launch wider investigations throughout groups, arrange a stronger whistleblower coverage, and add extra concrete penalties for senior management who do find yourself embarking on romantic relationships with workers with out clearing it with the suitable our bodies. The FIA has not responded to a request for touch upon whether or not they have began an investigation into Horner and Crimson Bull by the point of this publication.
However given how every F1 crew has its personal CEO and operates in a number of totally different nations, inner protocols and processes range, in response to Nicole Sievers, co-founder of Two Ladies 1 Formulation.
“In a sport that’s so closely male dominated, there are additionally doubtless pressures on ladies which might be working for these groups,” Sievers stated. “That’s a very powerful place to be in, particularly once you do see type of the overwhelming majority of the ruling class of F1. We’ve seen that play out traditionally. Cash simply breeds energy, which breeds a lack of a sense of consequence.”
On prime of that, a lot of the make-up of the present media pool skews a sure manner: older, male, white. This previous guard has been masking F1 for a really very long time. Protection round sexism, racism, and different kinds of discrimination will not be prime of thoughts.
Strict guidelines on F1 protection don’t assist. Usually in American sports activities, getting press accreditation is pretty routine, however with F1, there are very strict guidelines for who’s eligible and what you may produce, from prohibiting shifting pictures to not offering credentials to web sites that don’t meet sure site visitors figures on their F1 protection, with comparatively small-scale offenses leading to prolonged bans.
When there’s such a decent leash on reporters, asking arduous questions with a watch for accountability turns into troublesome. As Lily Herman, creator of the F1 tradition e-newsletter Engine Failure, explains, “There are all these fears that exist in F1 round, ‘Hey, if I converse up, I’m going to get my media entry revoked or my complete media group will if I do one thing incorrect.’”
An ideal case research of this dynamic could be seen with Street & Monitor’s editor-in-chief Daniel Pund taking down a vital piece by Kate Wagner analyzing the opulence of Formulation 1 as a result of he felt it was the “incorrect story” for the publication. The story itself was entertaining, however not essentially news-breaking, and the elimination raised questions about whether or not the FIA reached out (in response to Pund, they haven’t).
What does this imply for ladies in motorsport
How this story in the end unfolds will exhibit if F1 understands its altering fanbase and what it takes to make its workers really feel supported, and whether or not it might probably get with the instances.
“As somebody who loves the game, it’s undoubtedly disappointing to see what’s happening proper now,” stated Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes driver and seven-time world champion, throughout media day for this weekend’s race in Saudi Arabia. “It doesn’t look good to the skin world. It doesn’t look good from the within both. It’s a very pivotal second for the game, by way of what we venture to the world and the way it’s dealt with.”
By sweeping such allegations underneath the rug, Crimson Bull might hope the assorted dramas of the game will trigger the information to die out. That’s incorrect. If something, F1’s rising feminine fanbase is hungry for accountability.
“We have to firmly stake our chair to the bottom on the desk and say: ‘We’re not leaving and we’re going to pressure you to be higher,’” Byrne stated. To her, what workers face mirrors the experiences of followers. You possibly can’t enhance one with out the opposite, and turning off the game gained’t assist, she added. “The one manner you are able to do that isn’t by stopping, however by persevering with to go on and being louder about it.”
And we’ve seen followers demand equal pay for feminine staff, security protections for all followers no matter gender identification at races, and growing alternatives for feminine drivers via F1 Academy. The game, in fact, made guarantees that it’s going to do higher in these avenues. Discuss is simply discuss although, if there aren’t actions to again it up when the stakes have by no means been greater. (F1 Academy, for example, was criticized for not being broadcasted throughout its debut in 2023.)
“I at all times query very brazenly what precisely the purpose of all of that is,” Herman stated, “It’s nice that girls are getting alternatives like F1 Academy. However we must always at all times type of query what precisely these alternatives are, what they do, and who they don’t lengthen to. What’s simply type of lip service being paid within the second of disaster?”
On the finish of the day, we’re speaking about individuals’s lives, not just a few actuality TV present. When successful is prioritized over well-being, all of us lose.
Replace, July 9, 2025: This story, initially printed March 8, 2024, has been up to date on the prime with information of Horner’s firing from the Crimson Bull crew.
