Continued turmoil expected under Horner: 'Calm won't return'
Red Bull Contentpool
F1 News
While the new Formula 1 season is set to begin next week in Melbourne, new details came out about the case of Christian Horner's alleged inappropriate behaviour towards a female employee. The latter is taking the matter to the employment tribunal, where it will be presented in January 2026.
No F1 team would be happy with such a situation leading up to a season, and former driver Ralf Schumacher expects that things will not settle down at the Austrians, especially as Horner remains the team principal. "I don't believe that calm will return," Schumacher began to Sky Sports DE.
The former Formula 1 driver also believes Horner prefers to have more and more power, and led the headquarters to care about other competitions and sports instead of F1. "He is someone who wants to control everything and take on more and more responsibilities. I believe he has managed to do that. That internally he has made sure that Red Bull in Salzburg cares more about other sports, football and so on. I believe [Red Bull boss] Mintzlaff also has more affinity for that."
Schumacher sees 'dangerous' situation
According to Schumacher, Horner always focuses on how to take advantage of every situation presented to him. "What are the loopholes that allow me to achieve a performance that others cannot," the German explained, citing how good Horner is in terms of agreeing to certain details, like in the Concorde Agreement.
However, the former Toyota and Williams driver also sees that only a single man having all the power in his hands can be a threat for any side. "He is someone who of course smelt a big opportunity when the big boss (Dietrich Mateschitz) unfortunately left because of health problems and eventually sadly passed away. You had the feeling that he wanted to be the new strong man, with the idea 'without me nothing will work'. And that's dangerous in Formula 1," he concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen
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