23/02/2024
NEWS STORY
Set to enter F1 in 2026 in partnership with Red Bull, Ford admits to monitoring the ongoing saga at the Austrian team involving Christian Horner.
Attending the Daytona 500, the iconic opener to the 2024 NASCAR season, Mark Rushbrook, head of Ford Performance Motorsport, admitted that the current situation is of concern.
"As a family company, and a company that holds itself to very high standards of behaviour and integrity, we do expect the same from our partners," he told AP Sports.
"It appears to us, and what we've been told, is that Red Bull is taking the situation very seriously, and of course they're worried about their brand as well. That's why they've got an independent investigation.
"Until we see what truth comes out of that, it's too early for us to comment on it all."
The saga remains shrouded in mystery, a situation not helped by speculation in the media and, of course, social media.
Attending the launch of the RB20 on Thursday, Horner, who had previously attended the opening of a new casino, was saying little but insisted that he will be attending this week's pre-season test in Bahrain.
However, aware of the damage that the speculation is doing, according to The Times, Red Bull is keen to conclude the saga as soon as possible.
Yet while the British newspaper claimed that Horner does not have the support of Max Verstappen, the three-time world champion disagrees.
"It's the same as always," he told reporters on Thursday. "I don't know who likes to write these kind of things, but between me and Christian it's like always."
Meanwhile, the media, especially at the lower end of the scale, continues to lap it up, the Daily Mail today proclaiming that "Geri Horner's Spice Girls bandmates 'offer her their support' as her Red Bull F1 boss husband Christian is accused of sending 'sexually suggestive messages' to an employee."