McLaren chief executive Zak Brown has added his voice to Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff in urging a swift and transparent resolution to the investigation into Red Bull's Christian Horner. The Red Bull team principal is under investigation following allegations of misconduct from an unnamed team employee.
The probe became public knowledge in February, but Red Bull's hierarchy opted not to suspend Horner, with the 50-year-old attending the RB20 car launch and remaining in the garage during pre-season testing in Bahrain. With the opening race of the season just over a week away, no verdict has yet been delivered, and the matter has dominated the media agenda over the past fortnight.
Speaking at Thursday's press conference, Brown said: "The allegations are extremely serious. McLaren holds themselves and all the men and women at McLaren to the highest standards. Obviously, diversity and equality and inclusion are extremely important to us, our partners, to everyone in Formula One." He added that Red Bull Corporation appears to have launched an investigation and that all hope and assumption is that it will be handled in a transparent way.
Brown emphasised the need for urgency, saying: "As FIA and Formula One has said, they need to handle it swiftly because I don't believe these are the type of headlines that Formula One wants or needs at this time." He stressed that the matter must be dealt with transparently, leaving no doubt that it has been handled appropriately, whatever the conclusion.
His comments echo those of Wolff, who spoke on Wednesday about the need for transparency. Wolff said: "I think what Red Bull has started as an independent investigation if this is done in the right way with transparency and with rigour, I think that's something that we need to look at - what the outcomes are and what it means for Formula One and how we can learn from that." He added that the sport wants to talk about racing cars rather than such critical topics, noting that it is an issue for all of Formula One.
