Ford denounce Red Bull in Horner case: 'Didn't get a satisfactory answer'
Ford - Red Bull Racing's partner from 2026 - are not happy with the Austrian team, to say the least. That is according to a letter from Ford's CEO to Red Bull, in the possession of news agency AP. In last Friday's letter, Jim Farley urges a quick resolution in the case involving Christian Horner, who has been accused of transgressive behaviour by a female employee.
The Ford CEO has expressed his displeasure to Red Bull's management over "the unresolved allegations of inappropriate behavior by Red Bull Racing leadership". In doing so, Farley stated that it has been 11 days since Ford first asked for more information about the investigation announced by Red Bull's parent company on 5 February into allegations towards Horner.
Ford wants answers from Red Bull
Farley goes on to write that Red Bull's management had initially spoken of an "aggressive management style" by Horner, but that there are now reports of sexual misconduct. In the letter, the CEO let the Austrians know, "As we have indicated previously, without satisfactory response, Ford’s values are non-negotiable."
"It is imperative that our racing partners share and demonstrate a genuine commitment to those same values. My team and I are available at any time to discuss this matter. We remain insistent on, and hopeful, for a resolution we can all stand behind," AP quoted from the letter.
It is unknown how Red Bull and Red Bull Racing have responded to Farley's letter. The Austrians have not (yet) made a decision on whether Horner will stay at the team. The team boss was present at the team of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez during the winter test in Bahrain this week.
Those stories about values, and this public calling out of RB, are all a game show and PR promotion.
The sooner Red Bull fire CH and other bad elements in their team, I think it will be better
I’m so glad Ford is so involved in all this. Because every time I have a moral or ethical dilemma, I just ask myself, “what would the ultra-virtuous Ford Motor Company do?”
Oh... please. Ford and US would better look in their own yard when they speak about morals. Is there a bigger society of bigoted hypocrite posers?
Wow, you really don’t understand sarcasm, do you? How the $&@! Could you possibly think that message was serious?
Ofc I understood it. But for some reason I couldn't post a new comment. Since your message was somehow related I replied to it.
I understand Ford, when Red Bull tarnish its image, it does tarnish Ford's too. They don't want to have anything to do with these kind of behavior and even worst, they don't want the world to know a partner is covering it. It does'nt take much for these huge companies to have bad numbers at the next trimester. Ford wants to show and teach everyone that they will not cautionnate any bad behaviour of this kind. The longer it takes Red Bull to clarifie or resolve this case, the more Ford will show its impatience. They are not trying to leave Red Bull but they assure all big partners around the world that they have nothing to do with this and never will.
Ford are fuls if they really think Redbull need them to built a new Engine?. Redbull should have partnered with Honda instead of this overrated American company.
Ford is not partnering with Red Bull for the ICE side of the power unit silly. Red Bull will be sucking wind if Ford is not their partner. The technical partnership is on the battery/electric side. Which Red Bull has no technical expertise.
I know that but do Redbull really need Ford to build battery? They have hired some big guns from Merc and Honda who are specialists in building Mgu-k/batteries along with ICE. This partnership was part of that bs thing that is currently going on i.e. to americanise the sport. Very reason why Logan is still driving for Williams after his meagre performances?♂️. Redbull should have known better before agreeing to this deal.
As has been explained before, red bull is not asking Ford to build the engine. They need help with the electronics. You seem to not be able to grasp this concept. Red bull always hire big guns from other teams. Any members who are original red bull members are useless. Nothing new here
Pay drivers have always existed in F1 so no surprise and American team employs one. Additionally no big gun from Merc or Honda have a manufacturing plant to produce the electrical side of a F1 powerplant.
Redbull can do the investment to build the infrastructure and they already have. What matters is they do have talented people in respective fields who can get the job done. According to official Redbull statement, everything thing will be built at Milton Keynes including the electrical part. Ford might provide some input that's all + sponsorship?. Bulk of the work will be done by Redbull power trains.
I had a feeling this would happen. Anybody associated with Red Bull over the past few years are a nail in the coffin for the brand, for F1 each time. Meanwhile, TW and people around him bring brand value up.
Get rid of Ford instead, bs brand. Horner provides much more value than they ever will
I have been consistent with my comments , untill there's an official statement, after the investigation, we can't say much . My stance has been " Horner is innocent until proven guilty" and the " presumption of credibility " for the complainant. Ford should adopt my approach or they will find themselves ruining their relationship with Redbull.
I like your stance, but we are discussing the appropriateness of Ford to make this kind of statement. In my opinion, as in yours, Ford's CEO should zip it. But any action, especially one of a CEO, has a motive. So I'm wondering what is Ford's motive here.
Ford ceo try worm his way out of contract with red bull .i cant rember if it was on hear or somewear els there was a clorse in the contract they had
@ manualshift if you go onto the rumors page its on hhere about ford it was the date 21 feb mate
Would be great if Redbull ends this partnership. Redbull should have tried to convince Toyota to join them instead of Ford. Toyota like Redbull don't give a F about EV's. Christian has said many times he wants to bring back V8-V10's by removing unnecessary electronics on the car. This will hand back more control to the drivers. MotoGP is already thinking about reducing electronics from 27. F1 should follow them.
Here we go again... "Christian Horner, who has been accused of trans.gressive behaviour by a female employee" And: "but that there are now reports of se.xual misconduct" Who accused Horner of this? Some media? Are they the new legal system now? Isn't it preferable to have a RIGHT and FAIR decision rather than a quick one? As far as I know, RB and Ford only partner up officially from 2026 on. Why in such a hurry? And even if Horner should be guilty of something, I don't see how this will affect Ford, something that doesn't happen whiting their corporation and therefore aren't responsible of?
I completely agree with you and #bringBackTheV12. I find it disconcerting that Ford's CEO insists on being kept abreast of an ongoing matter. Officially, they should only be informed of the resolution reached by RB at its conclusion, without any further insights. RB is not a subsidiary of Ford, and thus, RB has no obligation to disclose investigations involving its employees. I sincerely hope that this indicates a lack of synergy between the two parties, leading to a mutual separation. This could potentially open up an opportunity for RB to reestablish a partnership with Honda. I understand where this is coming from though: In the US, it's common practice to place an employee on immediate unpaid leave upon the filing of a complaint, irrespective of guilt or innocence. Employers tend to err on the side of caution, often assuming the employee's guilt. Reversing this decision is seldom feasible, prompting many individuals to seek alternative employment. The employer emerges unscathed, and everything resolves pretty neatly for the employer. A win-win solution for the company.
@manual shift in the uk if you get supened from work with investergation you get full pay .and rb let honer carry on working will investergation going on ford seems to be try call the shots with it
First of all, what a wonderful way of writing from you once again. Very well written! With some media it is sometimes similar in such cases. Rumors can quickly become wild stories out of nothing. If those media outlets are ultimately right, they say that they always knew it. However, if they are wrong, they mostly go silence, very rarely they apologize. But the damage has been done, it doesn't matter, profit has been made. A 50/50 game where they always win. I also hope that RB stays with Honda. Unfortunately, as far as I know, Honda has already signed with AM. RB therefore would only be a customer and no longer a partner. On the other hand, RB's own engine program is most likely already too advanced to give up everything. Maybe Porsche has gotten off its high horse a bit and a cooperation will still happen. At least it would be an interesting alternative. However, before that can happen, a lot still has to go wrong between Ford and RB. I see this as extremely unlikely. As a side note, the last time I used the word "extremely unlikely", F1 reality reminded me that nothing is impossible (HAN -> Ferrari). ?
Also regarding Honda, don't be confused, when they decided to get out of F1 they sold most of their IP and development team to RB. They are just now known as Red Bull Power Trains. I think Ford's part is much more limited than most people think and they will be mostly involved with the development of the new hybrid system. RB right now are 90% their own engine supplier just like Mercedes and Ferrari. Honda's new involvement with Aston will be a new and unproven one.
haha yes definitely. well yeah they needed new expertise. how you go about getting it is another issue. You can just train or higher new engineers or you can "buy" it as a small package from someone like Ford who gets to put their name on something in F1 and get more value out of their investments in EVs. It probably came cheaper for RB that way too so that's a win-win. This is the way I am thinking about it at least.
RB is not a Honda client. RB is still a Honda partner. Whiteout Honda, RB would not have been able to totally redesign the cooling system for the RB20. Also if RB is pretty much a manufacturer, why did they not take care of their entire PU instead of partnering up with Ford? It is more complicated than it might look like. Know how is one thing, $$$ is the other one.
Yeah that's not what I mean. I am saying that RB isn't just a Honda client that will switch partners. They are pretty much a manufacturer now and don't have any significant dependence to them. They bought out that part of Honda and now own it.
Don't be mistaken, the hybrid part is a very complex and also a very expensive one. It's worth way more than 10% ? Probably the reason why RB ended up partnering up with a big car brand for that part.
To J41L. 'Who accused Horner of this?' I've spoken to Shaggy the Jamaican-American singer and rapper and he said " it wasn't me " To be serious though, are Ford concerned about maybe being guilty by association, that seems to be the theme of their statement, I think they feel that it should have been resolved by now one way or the other, I'm just wondering that IF Horner did say/do something that was unacceptable behaviour then maybe other employees have stepped up with similar issues that now need further investigation hence the delay, sorry, I don't mean to throw a grenade in the room but it seems there could be a bit more than a 'he said/she said' scenario but whatever is going on I sincerely hope they get it settled quickly so we can get on with what F1 is all about
That's funnier than watching a real short person trying to use a yo-yo...
I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me about self-explanatory that such an investigation not only applies the "person" and Horner. Other employees will be certainly questioned too no matter if there was only one person involved or several ones. Therefore it will need time. Until the last word has been spoken by someone official from RB, it is totally unnecessary to throw around with rumours, especially some Media channels. I know the "guilty by association" doesn't come from you, but in this case it doesn't make any sense tbh. It's like putting someone in jail because his/her partner shoot someone. bringBackTheV12 said it perfectly, quote: "Ford had already made their moral/ethical stance clear, what is the point in repeating it?". Ps: Shaggy also said "Mad Mad World" ?
Is it from 2026 on? I thought they are supposed to be working together already to produce the new power unit by 2026 already. I totally agree that we want a fair decision rather than a quick one but just like several people (including me) have pointed out that we won't make negative assumptions about Horner without proof, there seems to be quite a big number of people in this comment section that are willing to make a bunch of "positive" assumptions like "the timeline being out of RB's hands" and "Ford just wants out of the deal and uses it as an excuse".
If the delay in response from RBR is due to the fact that it is an external 3rd party that is conducting the investigation, i.e. the timeline is out of their hands, then what more can they say other than "you'll know when we know"? And if Ford is reacting to unsubstantiated rumours from the press, to me that's a bad look from the CEO of a huge corp. Ford had already made their moral/ethical stance clear, what is the point in repeating it? It's almost like their CEO is being a bully and if I were RBR, I'd be having second thoughts about bringing them on as a partner if this is their modus operandi.
Sounds like ford try pull out of rbr contract and they will know out come when red bull dose
Could be indeed. Looking at the loses they had with their EV's program, it's a fair point, even though I prefer to not believe in it.
The ev program was a waste of investment with it .the cars to dear to buy and also to dear to put right and they cant do same milage petrol cars .and over in uk lot of insurse firms will not insure ev cars
They are just trying to find any excuse they can to get out of the deal. They have no spare money to spend on going F1 racing. They have larger problems on their hand, like no one is buying their electric vehicles and their finances are not looking too strong!
When you say 'press' and 'unsubstantiated rumours' we're talking about AP here, they aren't the Sunday Sport you know, Redbull fans didn't have anything good to say about De Telegraaf but now this is AP, arguably one of the best news agencies in the world
Did AP cover the same alleged misconduct as reported by the Dutch journalist?
No, I guess because they're American just like Ford that they've got involved, how they came about this new information though is unknown, maybe the female party has provided AP with some juicy evidence to try and get Ford on her side instead of Redbulls, quite clever if true
Or maybe it's just the reaction to the stuff published by De Telegraaf...
AP simply appears to be reporting on the content of the letter from Ford here. The letter may be real, but Ford itself might just as well have formed their opinion based on fabricated rumors.
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