Red Bull F1 'power struggle' claims addressed as Horner future remains in question

Sky Sports F1 pundit Craig Slater has addressed rumours suggesting that there is a power struggle at Red Bull following the investigations into team principal Christian Horner.

Horner – who has been with the team since they joined the sport in 2005 – is subject to an internal investigation due to alleged ‘inappropriate behaviour.’

While the team boss has consistently denied the allegations, the investigation could well rumble on past pre-season testing and even up to the first race of the season in Bahrain.

Rumours have now begun to circulate that a power struggle is going on at the team, after Horner met with the independent investigator that was appointed by Red Bull’s Austrian-based parent company Red Bull GmbH, which was kept a secret from the F1 team.

But F1 pundit Slater has said that this is not the case.

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Red Bull power struggle rumours addressed

Speaking on Sky Sports, he said: "The guidance I've had from Milton Keynes is that it's not a battle between Salzburg and Milton Keynes for control of this racing team.

"Remember this was an organisation founded by Dietrich Mateschitz, the billionaire part-owner of the drinks firm. He passed away a few months ago and since then Oliver Mintzlaff, the former Red Bull Leipzig executive, has been running the general sporting operation.

"But it has been explained to me like this, it would be old fashioned that an investigation like this would be governed by a power struggle going on elsewhere.

"You might read stories about Bernie Ecclestone potentially intervening on his friend Christian Horner’s behalf with the Thai majority owners of the Red Bull drinks firm - that's a kind of old fashioned view of the way F1 power politics used to unfold.

"There's a lot of talk of, is Christian Horner as close to ace designer Adrian Newey as he used to be. Is there a little bit of a gap there and does that make Christian Horner more expendable?

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"Again, while that might have some kind of ramification if Christian Horner does go, it should have no bearing whatsoever on this investigation as it unfolds.

"So let's see what happens today and if we get any more detail on how this is going to proceed.

"But my guidance is that this could well stretch past the the launch of Red Bull's 20th racing car, which is next Thursday, and who knows, might it not even be concluded before pre-season testing begins."

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