Quote:
Originally Posted by 3798j
"Horner may also have lost the personal and contractual backing of Adrian Newey. Eagle-eyed social media users noticed that Newey’s wife Amanda ‘liked’ a post on X linking her husband with a sensational move to Ferrari."
“Now’s your chance to tick off those regrets, Adrian,” the comment that Amanda liked read.
http://www.gptours.com/gr_news/anoth...attled-horner/ |
Other tidbit from that article:
"Critically, Horner may still have the support of Red Bull’s non-Austrian ownership camp, the Thais, who control 51 percent of the energy drink brand.
“I have the feeling that the Austrian side really wants to get rid of Horner, especially with this issue,” Erik van Haren, a Dutch journalist for De Telegraaf, who has been very close to the story, said on the DRS De Race Show podcast.
“I think the Thai owner is still on Horner’s side at the moment. Ultimately, he has the most important voice.”"
For the record: the Dutch F1 journalist Erik van Haren has access to the inner circle of the Verstappens. He seems to have some sort of bee-line with them (especially Jos).
See this earlier post:
https://f87.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...4#post29547984 - van Haren was the journalist who, in a surprisingly unreserved fashion, explained the Verstappen-Perez feud detonating publicly near the end of the Brazil 2022 race (
cf. Verstappen on-board radio:
"I gave my reasons"), revealing the very reason he had heard why Verstappen had defied RBR team orders to invert track position with slower team mate Perez (who was in dire need for WDC points at that time) at the end of the Brazil race: he pointed out that Perez had deliberately crashed his car during Monaco 2022 Q3, an unsportsmanlike decision by Perez ruining virtually everyone's qualy flying lap, including the one of Max Verstappen (purple sectors to no avail). To add insult to injury, Perez won the Monaco 2022 race the next day and threw a party at night (where, according to Max Verstappen's mother in a very controversial Instagram post, Perez allegedly "cheated on his wife"). van Haren explained that, during the Azerbaijan 2022 race weekend, Perez confessed to Horner and Marko during a meeting that his Monaco crash had indeed been deliberate. The story goes that Max Verstappen went ballistic when he got informed - Verstappen felt betrayed and would never forget this. The Verstappen-Perez personal relationship has been tainted ever since (as became obvious during the Brazil 2022 race). van Haren about the grudge:
"Verstappen has always remembered this (...) Inside Verstappen's mind there is a difference between helping someone and truly deliberately screwing someone. And in his view that has happened in Monaco. And you can factually construe this. And he does not forget this.".
Possibly some teeth-gnashing down at camp Verstappen that Perez was allowed to remain RBR driver till the end of the 2024 race season as per his contract. Christian Horner has repeatedly been protective for Perez in interviews. Perez remained on board and got professional psychological help to improve his racing.
The mere fact that the RBR employee complaint has leaked in the press and that Horner has told van Haren's Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf that he strongly denies the allegations, is an indication that Horner's leadership is put under critical pressure. Even should Horner survive the RBR employee incident (which remains to be seen), his fate could be sealed should he lose the trust of the Red Bull parent company.
Anyways, Horner knows very well that he has a target on his back and that snipers are taking aim at him. Could be that he gets fed up and negotiates a golden parachute. Red Bull could give him wings to leave for another F1 team or to retire from the F1 world.