Christian Horner pictured sharing embrace with FIA president after meeting F1 bosses amid leaked text message storm
Christian Horner was pictured sharing an embrace with the FIA president amid the storm surrounding leaked messages.
The Red Bull chief missed a portion of Friday’s practice session ahead of this weekend’s season-opening Grand Prix in Bahrain - leading to questions over his whereabouts.
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It was claimed during Sky’s coverage by reporter Ted Kravitz that Horner had been summoned to a meeting with FIA and F1 bosses.
It comes amid the recent allegations of inappropriate behaviour and a barrage of text messages of alleged sexual nature that were then leaked to the press.
It was previously claimed that Horner was due to be one of the topics on the table as FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali met for their regular meeting ahead of the race weekend.
Horner's empty chair was then spotted on the pitwall, with claims he had joined the meeting during Free Practise 3.
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There have been major doubts over Horner’s future in charge of Red Bull and in the sport in the wake of the Red Bull investigation into his conduct, which cleared him of any wrongdoing on Wednesday.
However, Horner was later seen talking and shaking hands with Ben Sulayem around the Red Bull paddock, with the pair sharing an embrace before taking his seat in the pitwall as practice came to a close.
It raises questions over the timing of the meeting, which took Horner away from his team's operations during the final practice session on Friday.
In those precious moments ahead of the first race of the F1 season, it’s highly irregular to see a team principal not in his seat as the teams prepare for qualifying.
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The season opener in Bahrain has been overshadowed by the unfolding controversy away from the track, involving Horner and accusations of inappropriate behaviours towards a colleague.
While Horner has continued his role as Red Bull team principle throughout the media storm, with the allegations being dismissed after an internal investigation, the controversy has lingered.
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The scandal took another turn this week when an email containing 79 files on a Google Drive was anonymously sent to a list of journalists, other team principals, F1 owners Liberty Media and more.
The files consist of alleged leaked text message exchanges on WhatsApp between Horner and a woman that are on a sexual nature.
Despite the case of misconduct being dismissed, the wider F1 community are calling for more transparency over the situation, with rivals team bosses Timo Wolff of Mercedes and Zak Brown of McLaren speaking out.
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