Christian Horner – latest: Red Bull F1 boss’s future in the balance with investigation verdict due today

The Red Bull team principal is flying out to Bahrain today, ahead of the season-opening race this weekend.

Horner will not be present at the Sakhir circuit on Wednesday (media day) but is currently set to be in the paddock for practice on Thursday.

A decision on the investigation into his conduct is still expected today. Sky Sports are reporting Horner himself is not aware of the outcome of the probe yet.

Horner strongly denies allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” made by a female colleague, with his future as the longest-serving team principal in the sport hanging in the balance while an external lawyer analyses all the evidence.

Here is a timeline of how the allegations have played out.

Steiner lost his job at Haas in January after eight seasons leading the American team in Formula 1, with team owner Gene Haas opting for a change with trackside engineering director Ayao Komatsu promoted to team boss.

Yet Steiner, known for his colourful language and entertaining appearances on Netflix’s Drive to Survive, has now found a new job with RTL, who broadcast F1 in Germany.

Steiner will be in the paddock for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix this weekend and will attend seven races with RTL.

Red Bull’s preparations for the new season have been overshadowed by allegations facing team principal Christian Horner.

Horner, who is fighting to save his career following a claim of “inappropriate behaviour” by a female colleague, insists it is business as usual at Red Bull though off-track it has been anything but for the team which has dominated the sport for the past two seasons.

On-track it has been precisely that.

Max Verstappen — in an upgrade of the machine which carried him to 19 victories from 22 rounds last year — set a blistering pace on the opening day of last week’s testing, finishing 1.1 seconds quicker than anybody else.

Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, summed up the ominous feeling in the paddock. Writing about Verstappen on ‘X’ he said: “He’s gloating. He’s taunting us. He knows. This year is going to be one long victory lap. You cannot begrudge anyone their success. All we can do is watch and admire.”

Horner insists he has the “overwhelming” support of Verstappen and Red Bull as a whole amidst allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” made against him by a female colleague. The Red Bull F1 boss repeatedly denied the accusations when questioned on Thursday.

While Horner and Verstappen refused to comment on the nature of the complaint, the team’s star driver insisted the morale of the team is “better than ever” heading into the new Formula 1 season despite the investigation.

Max Verstappen: “I am looking forward to the weekend ahead in Bahrain. We had a good few testing days and learned a lot from the car.

“Of course, we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves and we still need to make sure we do everything right to have a strong first weekend.”

Lewis Hamilton said he chose to turn his back on Mercedes and join rivals Ferrari to write “a new chapter” in his record-breaking career.

The seven-time world champion was speaking for the first time at length since his shock blockbuster move to the Italian giants in 2025 was confirmed earlier this month.

Hamilton’s soon-to-be Ferrari team led the way on the concluding day of this week’s test in Bahrain, with Charles Leclerc seeing off Mercedes’ George Russell by just 0.046 seconds.

Red Bull’s investigation is “likely” to be resolved before this weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, according to Sky Sports.

Christian Horner is set to return to the UK on either Tuesday or Wednesday, with practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix taking place on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s race.

Horner insisted at pre-season testing on that he wants the outcome to the probe “as soon as possible”.

Reports indicate that the findings from the external lawyer tasked with the case will be presented to Red Bull GmbH’s board imminently.

The hope, from all sides, is then that an outcome is announced ahead of the first race of the 2024 season on Saturday.

“If Lewis were to leave,” pondered George Russell as he addressed the prospect of Hamilton joining Ferrari. “That would put Mercedes in a tricky spot. It would almost look like he’s lost faith in the team.”

Russell was speaking in an episode of Netflix’s newly-released Drive to Survive series – a chapter the Mercedes’ PR machine envisaged would celebrate Hamilton’s decision to stay with them.

Hamilton, after all, had signed a two-year contract extension last August to remain with the Silver Arrows until the end of 2025.