Williams F1 team principal James Vowles has spoken out on appropriate conduct in the workplace after an investigation was started into fellow team principal Christian Horner.
Horner, who has been the head honcho at Red Bull since their entry into the sport in 2005, has denied all allegations of inappropriate behaviour as the investigation rumbles on.
Red Bull have confirmed that they have launched an independent investigation, with a spokesperson telling GPFans: "After being made aware of certain recent allegations, the company launched an independent investigation. This process, which is already underway, is being carried out by an external specialist barrister.
"The company takes these matters extremely seriously and the investigation will be completed as soon as practically possible. It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time.“
Vowles: I can only control what happens at Williams
Williams chief Vowles, who has earned praise after his first year in charge for his well-thought out responses to sensitive subjects in the sport, once again proved that he has a calm head on his shoulders.
“The sport itself, wind back 20 years ago, male-dominated without question. If you had to ask me what makes up a team, it would be white, more than likely male, more likely 40 years old, something in that ballpark,” he told Bloomberg.
“That’s changing and it’s only a positive that’s changing that result. I can only control what happens within Williams.
“And what I can do within the environment is open everyone’s eyes to this is how we have to be, because the best ideas don’t come from being a closed group of individuals, it come from diversity.
“These allegations are allegations, I’m afraid I don’t have any understanding of what is behind them and the significance of what has happened.
“All I can say is that should this ever happen in our guard we’ll be entirely supportive in terms of fixing it and making sure we have a culture that is accepting of everyone...
“Again, I think it means we will have to look each other in the mirror and make sure that we are posing the right questions internally and acting in the way that we can only be proud of, not today but in the next 10 years.”