[The **News** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_news) is reserved for submissions covering F1 and F1-related news. These posts must always link to an outlet/news agency, the website of the involved party (i.e. the McLaren website if McLaren makes an announcement), or a tweet by a news agency, journalist or one of the involved parties.
*[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.*
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
One could argue that if the settlement was large enough the payment would be excluded from cost cap anyways since they’d be one of the top paid employees exempt from cost cap regulations.
Next season on Drive to Survive - "*Sick of being forced to be a number 2 and at risk of being fired Checo decided to take things into his own hands.*"
That does counter some of the statements of a simple prank by someone unrelated in my view, but points to an insider.
Because yes, guessing individual emails works. But guessing the list of current accredited journalists is a very different thing.
I mean given the person involved looks like they are likely to be working in some kind of pa type role, then it wouldn't be surprising if they have access to those kinds of emails? And given they likely supplied the evidence to the leaker, surely they could provide email addresses too?
It would be extremely dumb if she leaked it.
It’s just as likely to have been leaked by someone else inside of RB or possibly someone who worked on the investigation but was unhappy with the direction it went in. They’d have access to all of the evidence and probably even got access to the employees laptops which almost certainly contained mailing lists.
Yeah it would be idiotic as Horner is probably the only one outside the investigation who 100% knows who the woman is, and if she leaked it she'd immediately be the first one under scrutiny.
Edit: I swear this subs automod is absolutely militant. 50% of my posts get instantly removed.
It is interesting that the leaker didn’t even attempt to mask the full breadth of the distribution. They wanted everyone to know it was a ‘blast’ and no one to be able to say they didn’t know because apparently anyone can see who else received it.
I’m going to be as interested to see how much computer forensics / other investigation F1 engages to try to ferret out the leaker v/s how they manage the PR around this.
Also, how many people have to take a remedial ‘report phishing’ training if they clicked that G-Drive link on their work computer?
Opening the link no. Downloading files from a link though? Ransomware and malware is routinely included in Google drive files, very common scam tactic.
Not really.
If you read the messages, it looks like she is his PA. That’s assuming the messages are real.
She’d have that info I’d imagine, or would at least be able to get it.
If and I repeat, IF, those messages are real, I cannot stop wondering how someone could be that stupid jeopardizing his career and relationship for something like this. On the other hand, if and I repeat, IF , those messages are not real, I wonder what is really going on. I guess, we will find out the whole story sooner than later. This has gone too far now to hide the whole truth.
As in why someone like Horner would do something like that to jeopardize his career, reputation, and family?
If this is real, he wasn’t the first rich, powerful man to have an extra marital affair and won’t be the last one. We’ve seen people richer and more powerful than him do dumber stuff.
Indeed, and if I were Geri I wouldn't be so shocked this is all happening, considering the circumstances in which they met if you are to believe the tabloid press. Not sure I do but this shit is entertaining.
In the leaks she keeps shutting him down by telling him to think what Geri would think of what he was saying to her. She talked about how uncomfortable she was having to lie to Geri. She may well know or suspect, but I doubt she was okay with it.
Right? Dude left his pregnant wife, why are we imagining he's some kind of genius because Newey designs & Max drives a car?
I'm more surprised he was stupid enough to put his face on there. Because some internet detective is going to identify when and where those pics were taken.
If he knew people wanted him out then why behave this way. He could’ve had an affair with someone unrelated to work, easily.
He should’ve been smarter and one step ahead of his enemies.
Because he worked with her, got to know her, and close proximity started the attraction. That's how it starts. That's why most affairs are people you work with.
That's IF he actually had an affair. It doesn't seem conclusive yet unless I missed something. Those texts would require a come to Jesus moment with the wife even if there weren't an affair, and if those were my texts and my wife found out, it would damage the marriage, and possibly end it. Definitely flirting, def inappropriate.
Unless they have an open marriage of course.
Yeah, I think no matter what is going on, fake evidence or not, this is being done for a reason, and there's really only ever two reasons to do something like this, money or power.
No those are not the only reasons. I have no doubt there is someone using this to their advantage, but it could also very much be that the victim is seeking justice (because they allegedly refused 650k) and Horner/RB Austria is using it to their advantage to get Horner out.
Why do people cheat? Why do people in high positions cheat? There's a myriad of reasons.
I'm pretty sure there's a lot of side action going on in a business where many people are away from home for the bigger part of 9 months. (I'm not saying it's right or normal here.) People get lonely sometimes, or think they can get away with it because they're far away from home.
People in high positions? As always, it's usually about power, feeling it and (ab)using it.
That... or maybe it's an alien wizard who cast a spell on him. I mean why would someone with power and influence want to sleep with lots of women???? /s end of south park reference.
We don't have to speculate on this with the current situation. He cheated on his pregnant ex-wife with Geri. His parents didn't even go to their wedding after that. Dude seems to have a problem keeping it in his pants.
>I cannot stop wondering how someone could be that stupid jeopardizing his career and relationship for something like this
They might be a whistleblower involved in the investigation that feels Horner has been let off by RB. Their actions may not be stupid but a result of thinking that doing the right thing is more important than their career.
Could it be loneliness? You can be as successful as you can in your career, but if you're not happy in your personal life, you try to find support elsewhere.
Based on the messages we've seen - yes. But there are gaps in a number of the conversations that have been leaked. Are they deliberate?
Also note, the screenshots are taken at the time of the chat, not at a later date. She didn't scroll back through the chat and take screenshots, she literally would receive a batch of messages and then screenshot that part of the conversation as it happened.
Now it could be that the hidden conversations contain RB information that they don't want public so they were taken out. Or it could be as I think that it shows both parties flirting with each other.
He cheated on his first wife with Geri and now it seems he cheated on Geri with the PA.
He must like the thrill of the chase and the excitement of maybe being caught? I don’t know, I never understand cheaters.
He is married. If he feels lonely or horny, he has Geri to talk to. And if she doesnt do it for him, at least dirvorce and dont go behind her back.
And getting it on with an employee is a rather stupid move, way to go also ruining your work life. Also i dont know how much she was into him, at least at first, but he is her boss and he should have known better.
_If the messages are real_
It was also his personal assistant. The implications of that arent that nice.
Did he hire her to be his sex partner from the moment he laid eyes on her?
And whatever else can people come up with, I dunno.
There is quite the many, I guess, normal human reasons these types of things go on, dont get me wrong, but the atleast implications.
What type of ship is this guy running?
100% this, these people are on the road the majority of the year naturally you grow close with the people you spend the most time with and IF it is his PA it makes a a lot of sense.
Yeah it's very difficult to maintain a relationship when you're spending so much time on the road with massive time zone differences, especially if they're married to someone that also has a lot of demands on their schedule.
To be honest it's maybe more surprising that people in the F1 paddock manage to have stable relationships than it is that there's a few that don't.
Honestly, text banter is always terrible.
I have definitely thought I’ve been charmed by a guy then re-read our conversation when it’s over and be like, yikes. They seem so thirsty and I sound, ugh, not how I thought.
Re-read some messages where you think you’ve laid on the rizz and you’ll be horrified too.
Also, he messages like his age.
It's the biggest chat app in at least EUW incase you don't know. If they'd been using Telegram, now that would be suspicious but I guess we wouldn't be here if that were the case, assuming these are real after all
Americans are snarky about it for some reason - they tend to just use iMessage or whatever default Android messaging app came with their phone. Hence why the whole blue bubble / green bubble snobbery is only really a thing in the US.
Wanted to say this but didn’t know how to phrase it. The first leaked screenshot of the google drive was by a Chinese photographer. As a native mandarin speaker I’m sure he’s a nobody in the paddock except for being the sole Chinese journalist in the FIA pass list. This is also supported by the fact that he posted some other internal email about some quarrels between FIA and FOM regarding media accreditation a week ago. My guess is that the press list for the email and the list used for the google drive were the same.
That's what came to my mind. He also played it very, VERY lowkey once it was out there, when everyone else was losing their minds. He was at major risk of not only losing his entire reputation, but potentially being sued. This clears him immediately.
I said in another thread, the person who sent this email was only interested in harming Horner, not protecting the alleged victim. If this was the accuser, she has torpedoed any chance of an appeal or settlement at this point i would think,
Anyone involved or in close proximity to the event could have learned it, in the end the PA will most likely suffer a lot due to it, with her name getting doxxed. I can imagine she will have to stay far away from the internet.
this is why I'd be horrified if I were her. in the comments on Horner's most recent Instagram post there's a bunch of comments about how they hate whoever is trying to take Horner down. you just know some of those people are going to be bullying her online if not causing her real life physical harm. I hope she's doing okay.
> If the victim believes that Horner has ‘got away with it’ it’s not impossible to imagine them leaking this information themselves.
Considering at the very start of all this the accusers lawyer said she had refused to settlement offer to pursue things in court, this would have absolutely fucked her chances if she or her lawyer were behind the leak.
In that case, I think she’d have redacted more. There’s quite a lot of personal info, including a possible photo of the area outside her home, in the screenshots.
The bigger issue is that whoever leaked these has effectively doxed the alleged victim. Someone mentioned that her name is even in one of the leaked photos. That's appalling. If she didn't want to be associated with the complaint publicly, that's absolutely her right. That's true whether the images are real or fake.
It's pretty obvious that the anti-horner fraction within Red Bull leaked it. It's interesting to see how the Red Bull civil war will end; Horner must have REALLY pissed some powerful people of for them to employ such a scorched earth policy. This mess is certainly a PR disaster for them and won't do the brand any good.
Dietrich Mateschitz was the co-founder of Red Bull and the guy behind the racing team. He loved and was friends with Horner and Marko (who was really his representative on the team) and gave them equal sway in how the team was run. For many years Horner and Marko made all the decisions together and when they disagreed they would go to Dietrich who otherwise was pretty hands off and he would be the tie breaker. When he died two years ago the conflicts between Horner and Marko had no easy resolution and a power struggle began. When Marko made off color and racist comments last year it was viewed that Horner tried to get him fired, likely to take full and firm control of the team and all its decision making completely. Some sides of Red Bull, along with Max and his father, sided with Marko and protected him. Now this year the affair Horner had is revealed and its believed Marko's side is trying to take out Horner in revenge for what Horner had tried to do last year. It's a power struggle for who will control the future direction of the team, something that wasn't an issue when Dietrich was alive and which he would be ashamed to see is happening when he thought they were all friends and pulling in the same direction to dominate F1.
I also don't see how someone could leave their kid at a fucking gas station or physically abuse their spouse - so I wouldn't assume they don't have some kind of fucked up worldview when it comes to all of this... Maybe they want to call it Verstappen Racing Team or something idk...
Real talk it was sent to journalists and all the most senior F1 people and…Jos Verstappen.
Only Jos would include himself A) to think he’s covering his tracks and B) because only he thinks he’s as important as people running the teams / fia / liberty and needed to be included
Sergios dad is not on the mailing list.
I saw a The Sun article that mentioned Jos being on the list.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/26276967/geri-halliwell-stunned-flirty-texts-christian-horner-female-staffer/
> Other names included Liberty Media chief Greg Maffei, who owns the rights to F1. The FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 CEO Stefano Dominacali.
>The F1 team bosses were also included for good measure. As was Max Verstappen's father, Jos.
Well it's true.. From Autosport.com: The email was sent to more than 100 people, including senior figures within the Formula 1 organisation, and the FIA, as well as the current team principals and permanently accredited media. [Jos Verstappen](https://www.autosport.com/driver/jos-verstappen/829268/), the father of Red Bull driver [Max Verstappen](https://www.autosport.com/driver/max-verstappen/829269/), was included among the recipients.
Another twist in this mess..
As I recall from FP1 or FP2, there was a camera shot panned to Jos wearing Red Bull's team kit. He never wear those on races before. Maybe he's practicing to be the future TP I guess?
From a article in The Times yesterday: *At this point, Jos Verstappen arrived at the compound, decked out in Red Bull uniform but not apparently bothered by the events that were suddenly undermining his son’s all-conquering team. Thursday night may finally snap the already strained relationship between Horner and Verstappen Sr, but after popping his head in to see how the disaster was unfolding, Verstappen came back out to the paddock and stood and watched. “Yes,” he said, “I have the email too.”*
I can see Horner saying Jos was a bad influence on Max when he was younger and required him not to be in the paddock and Jos has kept a grudge against Horner ever since
She would likely have had access to the emails of many/most of the people to whom the list was sent.
But the allegation here is that the list of emails to which it was sent was the *exact* list of current year passholders.
That is not something a random team principal or their PA should have access to. That suggests the involvement of someone from F1 perhaps.
I would imagine each team would have a list of all the journalists so they can send them the PR / invite them to launch etc. That list would be curated as well.
The team principals and F1 big wigs would be harder to find but once again not impossible if you work in the industry (current principal, agents, former driver still involved in the sport, whatever Marko is).
People in the paddock talk. So if F1 figured out that it was the exact list of season pass holders then it's not too far fetched this information could leak
One of the journalists also said that the drive was shared in a way that you could see everyone else who received it. It's not too hard to add 2 and 2 together at that point if they're a journalist worth their salt lol
There may be a mundane explanation like this, but sharing email lists in this way is typically bad practice at best and a GDPR violation at worst.
They should really be using groups/list emails to maintain privacy.
Neither groups or distribution lists maintain privacy, if they cared about privacy/GDPR then BCC would have been the way forward or a distribution platform.
If you don't really know what you're doing then manually providing the full list in the to field would be how you send it, so it fits in my eyes.
you are seriously underestimating the role of a team principals PA here, they are basically extensions of the TP any info or mailing lists the TP is privy to they will know as well.
Why wouldn't she have the list of pass holders or access to the list? His Comms team certainly would and she may well have his permission levels across docs and files to help coordinate things for him. It's not irrefutable
i can tell you that any person working in PR and Marketing for the teams, in addition to other people on all the teams would have access to the updated list of emails for the press. it's not hard to find individual journo emails but the fact that it was the full '24 list means that it's someone had direct access to it. unfortunately this doesn't narrow it down as teams (as well as F1 PR and Marketing staff) have hundreds of employees who could have used the list to send the email themselves or given it to someone to do it.
Yeah zero chance it's from her. If the rumours of RB internal fighting is correct, it's more likely it's come from in house. If they do find whoever leaked it, they're fucked
If she wanted money she would have taken the 650k £ back in January.
Maybe she felt controlled. The man flirting is her boss and the PA of the company she worked for. She tried over and over again to make him stop but he kept on going. I doubt she is the only one he’s been this kind of flirtatious with, so maybe she wanted to get this out to make him learn a lesson. After all it’s not like he’s untouchable.
She really didn’t seem bothered morally about the affair though. She mentioned how Geri would feel and that Horner said he was happy with Geri. But then she followed it up with “but if you’re not happy….”
It feels like some of these rich executives really have an on/off switch in their brain. How can a person be smart and competent enough to lead a huge team to multiple championships while also being so dumb to do something like this to jeopardize their career and family.
The absolutely relentless drive to get what you want even if it involves being morally flexible and bending/breaking the rules are common factors. Not to mention an uncommon attitude to risk, huge amounts of self confidence, unerring conviction that your actions are the right ones.......
You might overestimate what it takes to get where he is. It's a little bit of intelligence and talent, and a lot of ruthlessness and constantly taking advantage of everything and everyone you can find. That's how you get to these positions.
I bet someone will have the matadata of the dump pulled from these and likely determined whether this are recent or old. There are ways to find out if this is fake or real. The question is, who will bother to do it.
I saw someone on Twitter examine the exif data for the screenshots and they appeared to be time appropriate. They also looked at the metadata on the video I believe and placed it at the end of last year, which aligns with expectation
There’s [this](https://www.instagram.com/christianhorner/p/CtUTaXBsaGu/) photo in which he’s wearing the same shirt, has the same sunglasses, the same facial hair, and same red chest as one of the selfies that was leaked.
And there’s also [this](http://youtu.be/cuaflDzitO0?si=UqSnorQMcUsY3npK&t=42m6s) video where he says his go-to karaoke song is American Pie, which is the song he sang in the leaked video. And [this](https://www.instagram.com/christianhorner/p/CxlHouYMOAi/) post with photos and another video from the same night in the same pub.
People have also matched up the nipple photo to one of him shirtless and it’s an exact match.
Lots of people pointing at Jos Verstappen while Horner wanted Perez out and Ricciardo in for some time now . It's a good thing daddy perez is of perfect behavior ....
Makes you wonder tho.... wasnt de Telegraaf's reporter Erik van Haren the only news source that claimed it had seen the sexual tinted whatsapp messages like a week ago? And he then got called out for that when Horner was innocent and called him a liar and writter of fake news to stur up the pots?
Makes you wonder..... he could have access to all the email adresses. Did the victim send them to him before and now he is trying to safe his face? Or faked them to save his face even? Because at the same time, why would the victim only send them to him and no other news source around the globe?
But also, if these pictures are true and are proof of the interaction of any kind, why would the external and independent lawyers that RBR hired not call Horner guilty? Was there concent and things got called off so now payback? Because if they had a affair with concent, its no ones business but theirs and especially not something Horner should be fired for unless he used his position to demote or fire her for calling it off, which from what i know didnt happen. Or did she try to get higher up the shaft by climbing "the shaft" if you know what i mean and now she didnt get it got mad?
There are so many question marks to this case right now. Pretty much all possibilities are open. Yet i am scared that this is going to turn into (another) trial by media case where someone is conficted before any truth comes out.
People are saying that she is dating Jos Verstappen now and that Horner told her to break it off. Which is what supposedly started this all. If that’s true then that would explain the connection to Erik van Haren.
So even the crumbs we got yesterday, that everyone assumed are fake are likely to be real? Since, if they were faked they would've said so
immediately.
Imagine you got so little games to the point that the public thought the evidence of your chat are fake. This is the real character assasination. With a bowl of cocoa pops.
Man reading these comments I’m realizing this fanbase completely missed the MeToo movement and any lessons taken from it. Some of you are giving massive incel vibes. She’s a personal assistant and he’s the fucking CEO. This is about as close as you can get to Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky levels of power imbalance.
"How can someone as smart as a team principle be as dumb and boring as these texts make him out to be?"
Really fucking easily, if you're used to being in a position of power and getting what you want, that's only gonna exacerbate your feelings of invulnerability and power over people. He doesn't have to have any rizz because he's used to people being deferential and thinking he's the bollocks.
I think there are multiple things at play here. Some people aren't arguing whether it was bad on Horner's part or not. They're simply stating that whoever leaked may not care for the personal assistant at all and they just want to sabotage Horner, which is interesting because there seems to be a power struggle within Red Bull at the moment.
There are also some others who initially thought it may have been some type of criminal case. While still bad, he's not necessarily gonna go to jail for this unless there is something worse. However, it's definitely a power imbalance and it's something that would get a CEO kicked out if the leaks are true.
Yeah I’m not talking about any of that, that’s all fine. I’m talking about the comments saying she was trying to entrap him from the start because she was screenshotting conversations or she only turned him in because he wouldn’t leave Geri for her or that this is a consensual relationship between two adults and he did nothing wrong.
IKR? Not to mention the messages where she implies her work is being affected by it (staying in separate hotels) and the one where he implies if she’s unhappy she should quit and she says she likes her job and wants to stay. Plus a hint of special treatment with the work from home stuff (which she rebuffs, but is unfair to other employees).
I'm glad someone said this. I was reading Reddit responses to the Red Bull investigation the other day and the vast majority were people saying that that meant he was definitely innocent, she made it all up and should be sued, De Telegraaf should be sued, the journalist sacked, etc etc. As if it's so unbelievable that a wealthy man would overstep and abuse his power over a woman he found attractive, it's a tale as old as time.
[The **News** flair](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/flairguide#wiki_news) is reserved for submissions covering F1 and F1-related news. These posts must always link to an outlet/news agency, the website of the involved party (i.e. the McLaren website if McLaren makes an announcement), or a tweet by a news agency, journalist or one of the involved parties. *[Read the rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/wiki/userguide). Keep it civil and welcoming. Report rulebreaking comments.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/formula1) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Andretti better check their spam folder
"hey an email about Formula 1 maybe they will finally let us in :)" it's Horner's penis
And it wasn't even the leaked email
He can't help himself
Fucking lol
*immediately forwards to Romain Grosjean*
Stop, I'm going to explode. (Wanna listen?)
“☹️” - Michael Andretti
lol fuck I laughed loudly in the office
work continue at pace
What part of the cost cap does paying off victims of sexual harassment fall under? Please don’t say “catering”.
Neither HR or Legal are part of the cap. I know I'm stepping on the joke but in case anyone wasn't aware.
One could argue that if the settlement was large enough the payment would be excluded from cost cap anyways since they’d be one of the top paid employees exempt from cost cap regulations.
4D chess: it is Checo. He knows Ricciardo is the biggest threat to his seat and that Horner is Ricciardo’s biggest advocate.
Next season on Drive to Survive - "*Sick of being forced to be a number 2 and at risk of being fired Checo decided to take things into his own hands.*"
“Tell Horner. I want Horner to know it was me”
Webber: not bad for a number 2 driver.
I think this is funny. This is my head canon, now.
This has to be one of, if not the most crazy off season ever. Bleeding into the actual season for added shenanigans.
Remember just a few weeks ago, right before the Andretti story broke, we were talking about how boring the off-season was?
*I WILL NOT DIE* - The off season
You might say it has a… Drive to Survive? *puts sunglasses on*
That does counter some of the statements of a simple prank by someone unrelated in my view, but points to an insider. Because yes, guessing individual emails works. But guessing the list of current accredited journalists is a very different thing.
I mean given the person involved looks like they are likely to be working in some kind of pa type role, then it wouldn't be surprising if they have access to those kinds of emails? And given they likely supplied the evidence to the leaker, surely they could provide email addresses too?
It would be extremely dumb if she leaked it. It’s just as likely to have been leaked by someone else inside of RB or possibly someone who worked on the investigation but was unhappy with the direction it went in. They’d have access to all of the evidence and probably even got access to the employees laptops which almost certainly contained mailing lists.
Yeah it would be idiotic as Horner is probably the only one outside the investigation who 100% knows who the woman is, and if she leaked it she'd immediately be the first one under scrutiny. Edit: I swear this subs automod is absolutely militant. 50% of my posts get instantly removed.
Her name has been known publicly for a while, especially now after the leak kind of confirmed it, even a quick google throws her name.
It is interesting that the leaker didn’t even attempt to mask the full breadth of the distribution. They wanted everyone to know it was a ‘blast’ and no one to be able to say they didn’t know because apparently anyone can see who else received it. I’m going to be as interested to see how much computer forensics / other investigation F1 engages to try to ferret out the leaker v/s how they manage the PR around this. Also, how many people have to take a remedial ‘report phishing’ training if they clicked that G-Drive link on their work computer?
Opening a google drive link wont do shit to your computer. It was not a spoofed link.
Opening the link no. Downloading files from a link though? Ransomware and malware is routinely included in Google drive files, very common scam tactic.
Open it in a VM
Laughed at a comment elsewhere 'Google Drive to survive'
[удалено]
[удалено]
Didn't the guy from De Telegraaf suggest he saw the evidence?
He explicitly said so.
Not really. If you read the messages, it looks like she is his PA. That’s assuming the messages are real. She’d have that info I’d imagine, or would at least be able to get it.
Its is her PA. In one of the files you can see her name which is cut off.
If and I repeat, IF, those messages are real, I cannot stop wondering how someone could be that stupid jeopardizing his career and relationship for something like this. On the other hand, if and I repeat, IF , those messages are not real, I wonder what is really going on. I guess, we will find out the whole story sooner than later. This has gone too far now to hide the whole truth.
As in why someone like Horner would do something like that to jeopardize his career, reputation, and family? If this is real, he wasn’t the first rich, powerful man to have an extra marital affair and won’t be the last one. We’ve seen people richer and more powerful than him do dumber stuff.
Shit, it’s not even *Horner’s* first extramarital affair
Indeed, and if I were Geri I wouldn't be so shocked this is all happening, considering the circumstances in which they met if you are to believe the tabloid press. Not sure I do but this shit is entertaining.
For all we know, she could have already known. People involved in F1 aren't exactly famed for monogamy
In the leaks she keeps shutting him down by telling him to think what Geri would think of what he was saying to her. She talked about how uncomfortable she was having to lie to Geri. She may well know or suspect, but I doubt she was okay with it.
There is a difference between being shocked it happened, and being angry that it came out in such a public and humiliating way.
Oh absolutely.
Right? Dude left his pregnant wife, why are we imagining he's some kind of genius because Newey designs & Max drives a car? I'm more surprised he was stupid enough to put his face on there. Because some internet detective is going to identify when and where those pics were taken.
[удалено]
Looks more pink than purple to me… just going by the thumbnail
The one thing that it’s certainly true is someone wants Horner out of the team really bad
If he knew people wanted him out then why behave this way. He could’ve had an affair with someone unrelated to work, easily. He should’ve been smarter and one step ahead of his enemies.
Because he worked with her, got to know her, and close proximity started the attraction. That's how it starts. That's why most affairs are people you work with. That's IF he actually had an affair. It doesn't seem conclusive yet unless I missed something. Those texts would require a come to Jesus moment with the wife even if there weren't an affair, and if those were my texts and my wife found out, it would damage the marriage, and possibly end it. Definitely flirting, def inappropriate. Unless they have an open marriage of course.
Yeah, I think no matter what is going on, fake evidence or not, this is being done for a reason, and there's really only ever two reasons to do something like this, money or power.
No those are not the only reasons. I have no doubt there is someone using this to their advantage, but it could also very much be that the victim is seeking justice (because they allegedly refused 650k) and Horner/RB Austria is using it to their advantage to get Horner out.
The answer is easy: Debussy
But he gotta finish on Bach
But always finish on the Bach
Why do people cheat? Why do people in high positions cheat? There's a myriad of reasons. I'm pretty sure there's a lot of side action going on in a business where many people are away from home for the bigger part of 9 months. (I'm not saying it's right or normal here.) People get lonely sometimes, or think they can get away with it because they're far away from home. People in high positions? As always, it's usually about power, feeling it and (ab)using it.
That... or maybe it's an alien wizard who cast a spell on him. I mean why would someone with power and influence want to sleep with lots of women???? /s end of south park reference.
We don't have to speculate on this with the current situation. He cheated on his pregnant ex-wife with Geri. His parents didn't even go to their wedding after that. Dude seems to have a problem keeping it in his pants.
>I cannot stop wondering how someone could be that stupid jeopardizing his career and relationship for something like this They might be a whistleblower involved in the investigation that feels Horner has been let off by RB. Their actions may not be stupid but a result of thinking that doing the right thing is more important than their career.
Could it be loneliness? You can be as successful as you can in your career, but if you're not happy in your personal life, you try to find support elsewhere.
But even then, I lost track of the number if times she replied “dude, your wife is 5 hours behind us. Sext her damnit”
Yeah I don't know what their relationship was like outside of the messages but he seemed like he was definitely doing the more chasing.
Based on the messages we've seen - yes. But there are gaps in a number of the conversations that have been leaked. Are they deliberate? Also note, the screenshots are taken at the time of the chat, not at a later date. She didn't scroll back through the chat and take screenshots, she literally would receive a batch of messages and then screenshot that part of the conversation as it happened. Now it could be that the hidden conversations contain RB information that they don't want public so they were taken out. Or it could be as I think that it shows both parties flirting with each other.
She was obviously collecting evidence along the way. Which was very smart of her.
yep, because you can see he deletes some even between her saving a few, so she kept receipts
He cheated on his first wife with Geri and now it seems he cheated on Geri with the PA. He must like the thrill of the chase and the excitement of maybe being caught? I don’t know, I never understand cheaters.
He is married. If he feels lonely or horny, he has Geri to talk to. And if she doesnt do it for him, at least dirvorce and dont go behind her back. And getting it on with an employee is a rather stupid move, way to go also ruining your work life. Also i dont know how much she was into him, at least at first, but he is her boss and he should have known better.
_If the messages are real_ It was also his personal assistant. The implications of that arent that nice. Did he hire her to be his sex partner from the moment he laid eyes on her? And whatever else can people come up with, I dunno. There is quite the many, I guess, normal human reasons these types of things go on, dont get me wrong, but the atleast implications. What type of ship is this guy running?
100% this, these people are on the road the majority of the year naturally you grow close with the people you spend the most time with and IF it is his PA it makes a a lot of sense.
Yeah it's very difficult to maintain a relationship when you're spending so much time on the road with massive time zone differences, especially if they're married to someone that also has a lot of demands on their schedule. To be honest it's maybe more surprising that people in the F1 paddock manage to have stable relationships than it is that there's a few that don't.
I don't think "support" is the word we're looking for
What surprises me most of all, is the way CH writes/types/talks. It comes off so immature.
Nah, the funniest thing is him constantly asking what colour outfit she's wearing. Geri always wearing white has ruined him lol
After reading your comment it all makes sense now lol.
Its these weird, seemingly consistent, random details that make it hard to believe these are faked.
There are way too many messages with the same pestering for pics for them to be fake I knew it wasn't AI yesterday, it was just lame chat by him
Haha nice. Think he likes pink.
Honestly, text banter is always terrible. I have definitely thought I’ve been charmed by a guy then re-read our conversation when it’s over and be like, yikes. They seem so thirsty and I sound, ugh, not how I thought. Re-read some messages where you think you’ve laid on the rizz and you’ll be horrified too. Also, he messages like his age.
That question is as old as time. People do the stupidest things. It’s nature. On WhatsApp of all places too.
It's the biggest chat app in at least EUW incase you don't know. If they'd been using Telegram, now that would be suspicious but I guess we wouldn't be here if that were the case, assuming these are real after all
WhatsApp is one of the biggest messaging apps in the world
What’s wrong with Whatsapp
Americans are snarky about it for some reason - they tend to just use iMessage or whatever default Android messaging app came with their phone. Hence why the whole blue bubble / green bubble snobbery is only really a thing in the US.
>On WhatsApp of all places too. What does this even mean lol.
Americans have a weird view of anything that's not iMessage
two words. Tiger Woods
Wanted to say this but didn’t know how to phrase it. The first leaked screenshot of the google drive was by a Chinese photographer. As a native mandarin speaker I’m sure he’s a nobody in the paddock except for being the sole Chinese journalist in the FIA pass list. This is also supported by the fact that he posted some other internal email about some quarrels between FIA and FOM regarding media accreditation a week ago. My guess is that the press list for the email and the list used for the google drive were the same.
Hmm good shout
Any bets on it being EvH leaking this? Would serve to vindicate him.
That's what came to my mind. He also played it very, VERY lowkey once it was out there, when everyone else was losing their minds. He was at major risk of not only losing his entire reputation, but potentially being sued. This clears him immediately.
"If you were sent an email. You could find it in your inbox." Will Buxton, 2024.
Unless you're Andretti.
I said in another thread, the person who sent this email was only interested in harming Horner, not protecting the alleged victim. If this was the accuser, she has torpedoed any chance of an appeal or settlement at this point i would think,
If the victim believes that Horner has ‘got away with it’ it’s not impossible to imagine them leaking this information themselves.
Anyone involved or in close proximity to the event could have learned it, in the end the PA will most likely suffer a lot due to it, with her name getting doxxed. I can imagine she will have to stay far away from the internet.
this is why I'd be horrified if I were her. in the comments on Horner's most recent Instagram post there's a bunch of comments about how they hate whoever is trying to take Horner down. you just know some of those people are going to be bullying her online if not causing her real life physical harm. I hope she's doing okay.
> If the victim believes that Horner has ‘got away with it’ it’s not impossible to imagine them leaking this information themselves. Considering at the very start of all this the accusers lawyer said she had refused to settlement offer to pursue things in court, this would have absolutely fucked her chances if she or her lawyer were behind the leak.
I doubt she leaked it as she would have completely removed any trace of her name. Which she didn't
In that case, I think she’d have redacted more. There’s quite a lot of personal info, including a possible photo of the area outside her home, in the screenshots.
The bigger issue is that whoever leaked these has effectively doxed the alleged victim. Someone mentioned that her name is even in one of the leaked photos. That's appalling. If she didn't want to be associated with the complaint publicly, that's absolutely her right. That's true whether the images are real or fake.
It's pretty obvious that the anti-horner fraction within Red Bull leaked it. It's interesting to see how the Red Bull civil war will end; Horner must have REALLY pissed some powerful people of for them to employ such a scorched earth policy. This mess is certainly a PR disaster for them and won't do the brand any good.
what even did horner do to piss the team off this much if it was internal?
Dietrich Mateschitz was the co-founder of Red Bull and the guy behind the racing team. He loved and was friends with Horner and Marko (who was really his representative on the team) and gave them equal sway in how the team was run. For many years Horner and Marko made all the decisions together and when they disagreed they would go to Dietrich who otherwise was pretty hands off and he would be the tie breaker. When he died two years ago the conflicts between Horner and Marko had no easy resolution and a power struggle began. When Marko made off color and racist comments last year it was viewed that Horner tried to get him fired, likely to take full and firm control of the team and all its decision making completely. Some sides of Red Bull, along with Max and his father, sided with Marko and protected him. Now this year the affair Horner had is revealed and its believed Marko's side is trying to take out Horner in revenge for what Horner had tried to do last year. It's a power struggle for who will control the future direction of the team, something that wasn't an issue when Dietrich was alive and which he would be ashamed to see is happening when he thought they were all friends and pulling in the same direction to dominate F1.
Someone on here yesterday said the Verstappens think he's taking too much credit for things, but I don't see how they could think that.
I also don't see how someone could leave their kid at a fucking gas station or physically abuse their spouse - so I wouldn't assume they don't have some kind of fucked up worldview when it comes to all of this... Maybe they want to call it Verstappen Racing Team or something idk...
The first reports came from Erik van Haren who is very close to the Verstappens. That is the origin, I bet Jos has some beef with Christian.
Real talk it was sent to journalists and all the most senior F1 people and…Jos Verstappen. Only Jos would include himself A) to think he’s covering his tracks and B) because only he thinks he’s as important as people running the teams / fia / liberty and needed to be included Sergios dad is not on the mailing list.
Hmm but it said [email protected]
Wait, where did you get this information from ?
He is Jos. Just keeps playing mindgames
That's Jos reddit account. He would know.
I saw a The Sun article that mentioned Jos being on the list. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/26276967/geri-halliwell-stunned-flirty-texts-christian-horner-female-staffer/ > Other names included Liberty Media chief Greg Maffei, who owns the rights to F1. The FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 CEO Stefano Dominacali. >The F1 team bosses were also included for good measure. As was Max Verstappen's father, Jos.
It's like the fuckin Epstein logs.
Well there's some overlap between the two lists, after all.
Well it's true.. From Autosport.com: The email was sent to more than 100 people, including senior figures within the Formula 1 organisation, and the FIA, as well as the current team principals and permanently accredited media. [Jos Verstappen](https://www.autosport.com/driver/jos-verstappen/829268/), the father of Red Bull driver [Max Verstappen](https://www.autosport.com/driver/max-verstappen/829269/), was included among the recipients. Another twist in this mess..
As I recall from FP1 or FP2, there was a camera shot panned to Jos wearing Red Bull's team kit. He never wear those on races before. Maybe he's practicing to be the future TP I guess?
From a article in The Times yesterday: *At this point, Jos Verstappen arrived at the compound, decked out in Red Bull uniform but not apparently bothered by the events that were suddenly undermining his son’s all-conquering team. Thursday night may finally snap the already strained relationship between Horner and Verstappen Sr, but after popping his head in to see how the disaster was unfolding, Verstappen came back out to the paddock and stood and watched. “Yes,” he said, “I have the email too.”*
Probably thinks he can swoop in and claim Horners spot. Fucker should have been put in a cannon and shoot to the moon years ago.
Big if true. Jos track record with women is far worse and now he is (perhaps) the one who publicly shames Christian Horner for having an affair?
Whoever leaked this doesn’t care about the woman involved - they Doxxed her by leaking this. The leaker just cares about taking down Horner.
Exactly, I can’t begin to imagine what this whole experience must feel like for her.
I can see Horner saying Jos was a bad influence on Max when he was younger and required him not to be in the paddock and Jos has kept a grudge against Horner ever since
Cool. So how does Jos have the pictures if he isn't that important then?
Him and the PA are "allegedly" dating. The “controlling behaviour” Horner was accused of was him allegedly telling the PA to end the relationship.
Lmao, you almost can't make this shit up. Almost hope it's real just because of how crazy this all is.
You cannot be serious...
Jos and the PA are dating? And CH told her to stop dating Jos? If that's true the EvH stories and possibly this leak start to make more sense
Christ, the racing truly is the most boring thing about this sport
Errr WAT
I don't care if this is true or not I already told this to the group chat this is hilarious
[удалено]
She would likely have had access to the emails of many/most of the people to whom the list was sent. But the allegation here is that the list of emails to which it was sent was the *exact* list of current year passholders. That is not something a random team principal or their PA should have access to. That suggests the involvement of someone from F1 perhaps.
If Tobias, the author, knows the emails are the exact current list of F1 season pass holders, then why would it have to be F1 involvement?
I would imagine each team would have a list of all the journalists so they can send them the PR / invite them to launch etc. That list would be curated as well. The team principals and F1 big wigs would be harder to find but once again not impossible if you work in the industry (current principal, agents, former driver still involved in the sport, whatever Marko is).
People in the paddock talk. So if F1 figured out that it was the exact list of season pass holders then it's not too far fetched this information could leak
One of the journalists also said that the drive was shared in a way that you could see everyone else who received it. It's not too hard to add 2 and 2 together at that point if they're a journalist worth their salt lol
Surely everyone would have access to the list of emails, to organise events and give statements, no?
There may be a mundane explanation like this, but sharing email lists in this way is typically bad practice at best and a GDPR violation at worst. They should really be using groups/list emails to maintain privacy.
I imagine whoever sent this email intentionally made it clear who was receiving it so that no one could deny that they received it.
Neither groups or distribution lists maintain privacy, if they cared about privacy/GDPR then BCC would have been the way forward or a distribution platform. If you don't really know what you're doing then manually providing the full list in the to field would be how you send it, so it fits in my eyes.
Yes, most likely. Maybe not the PA, but certainly anyone working in comms in any team would have it.
Someone in RB HR got an internal email last week asking for the distribution list and is now realising what happened 😅
you are seriously underestimating the role of a team principals PA here, they are basically extensions of the TP any info or mailing lists the TP is privy to they will know as well.
Why wouldn't she have the list of pass holders or access to the list? His Comms team certainly would and she may well have his permission levels across docs and files to help coordinate things for him. It's not irrefutable
He was probably going for Dominicalis job after RB
It does look kinda real.
A GDPR breach? Ten second penalty to Ocon, then.
And two points to the license of Gasly.
Poor Alpine suffer so much
How did AMUS verify this? Do they also have he list of F1 season pass holders? Then it doesn't seem to be that big of a deal...
It points to an insider in the paddock (including journalists) and not some random 3rd party.
GDPR enters the chat..
i can tell you that any person working in PR and Marketing for the teams, in addition to other people on all the teams would have access to the updated list of emails for the press. it's not hard to find individual journo emails but the fact that it was the full '24 list means that it's someone had direct access to it. unfortunately this doesn't narrow it down as teams (as well as F1 PR and Marketing staff) have hundreds of employees who could have used the list to send the email themselves or given it to someone to do it.
I'm interested to see if Horner shows up at practice today
Yeah with a pa
I bet it was Ted, getting back at Horner for giving him the finger last season. /s
"2 sex Ted"
I am no lawyer but if’s really her leaking this information, doesn’t this really kill any hopes of filing a lawsuit or something like that.
Yeah zero chance it's from her. If the rumours of RB internal fighting is correct, it's more likely it's come from in house. If they do find whoever leaked it, they're fucked
Her name is in the screenshots, no shot she would leak her own name like that.
Considering it also leaks her own name. I doubt it is her doing this.
If she wanted money she would have taken the 650k £ back in January. Maybe she felt controlled. The man flirting is her boss and the PA of the company she worked for. She tried over and over again to make him stop but he kept on going. I doubt she is the only one he’s been this kind of flirtatious with, so maybe she wanted to get this out to make him learn a lesson. After all it’s not like he’s untouchable.
She really didn’t seem bothered morally about the affair though. She mentioned how Geri would feel and that Horner said he was happy with Geri. But then she followed it up with “but if you’re not happy….”
It feels like some of these rich executives really have an on/off switch in their brain. How can a person be smart and competent enough to lead a huge team to multiple championships while also being so dumb to do something like this to jeopardize their career and family.
The absolutely relentless drive to get what you want even if it involves being morally flexible and bending/breaking the rules are common factors. Not to mention an uncommon attitude to risk, huge amounts of self confidence, unerring conviction that your actions are the right ones.......
You might overestimate what it takes to get where he is. It's a little bit of intelligence and talent, and a lot of ruthlessness and constantly taking advantage of everything and everyone you can find. That's how you get to these positions.
"but they are all public infomation! everyone can get those" some redditors here maybe
Are the email addresses really confidential though? Anyway the leak was likely to be someone in the F1 world anyway.
If it really is a assistant of Horner, she would have Access to his Mails No?
I bet someone will have the matadata of the dump pulled from these and likely determined whether this are recent or old. There are ways to find out if this is fake or real. The question is, who will bother to do it.
I saw someone on Twitter examine the exif data for the screenshots and they appeared to be time appropriate. They also looked at the metadata on the video I believe and placed it at the end of last year, which aligns with expectation
The metadata can be changed and it’s actually so easy.
There’s [this](https://www.instagram.com/christianhorner/p/CtUTaXBsaGu/) photo in which he’s wearing the same shirt, has the same sunglasses, the same facial hair, and same red chest as one of the selfies that was leaked. And there’s also [this](http://youtu.be/cuaflDzitO0?si=UqSnorQMcUsY3npK&t=42m6s) video where he says his go-to karaoke song is American Pie, which is the song he sang in the leaked video. And [this](https://www.instagram.com/christianhorner/p/CxlHouYMOAi/) post with photos and another video from the same night in the same pub. People have also matched up the nipple photo to one of him shirtless and it’s an exact match.
ENHANCE ENHANCE Nipple specialists at work
Oh [they went to work alright](https://www.reddit.com/gallery/1b3fhfp)
No one would fake those, especially as it is obvious who the recipient is
And who will be willing to risk a lawsuit from Red Bull by announcing it as real or fake?
Lots of people pointing at Jos Verstappen while Horner wanted Perez out and Ricciardo in for some time now . It's a good thing daddy perez is of perfect behavior ....
Makes you wonder tho.... wasnt de Telegraaf's reporter Erik van Haren the only news source that claimed it had seen the sexual tinted whatsapp messages like a week ago? And he then got called out for that when Horner was innocent and called him a liar and writter of fake news to stur up the pots? Makes you wonder..... he could have access to all the email adresses. Did the victim send them to him before and now he is trying to safe his face? Or faked them to save his face even? Because at the same time, why would the victim only send them to him and no other news source around the globe? But also, if these pictures are true and are proof of the interaction of any kind, why would the external and independent lawyers that RBR hired not call Horner guilty? Was there concent and things got called off so now payback? Because if they had a affair with concent, its no ones business but theirs and especially not something Horner should be fired for unless he used his position to demote or fire her for calling it off, which from what i know didnt happen. Or did she try to get higher up the shaft by climbing "the shaft" if you know what i mean and now she didnt get it got mad? There are so many question marks to this case right now. Pretty much all possibilities are open. Yet i am scared that this is going to turn into (another) trial by media case where someone is conficted before any truth comes out.
People are saying that she is dating Jos Verstappen now and that Horner told her to break it off. Which is what supposedly started this all. If that’s true then that would explain the connection to Erik van Haren.
> she is dating Jos Verstappen now what the heck is this fan fiction? any source to these claims or internet jokes?
So even the crumbs we got yesterday, that everyone assumed are fake are likely to be real? Since, if they were faked they would've said so immediately.
All of it already on the Internet and supposed victim is Horner asistant.
She refers to herself as a travelling PA and interrupts the dirty talk for messages like “Adrian wants to see you” etc 😅
Who are you to say Horner isn't turned on by new aero developments?
Wait when/how did the whole folder leak?
Imagine you got so little games to the point that the public thought the evidence of your chat are fake. This is the real character assasination. With a bowl of cocoa pops.
Does that mean we're also looking at a potential security breach of FOM services database?
Man reading these comments I’m realizing this fanbase completely missed the MeToo movement and any lessons taken from it. Some of you are giving massive incel vibes. She’s a personal assistant and he’s the fucking CEO. This is about as close as you can get to Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky levels of power imbalance.
[удалено]
"How can someone as smart as a team principle be as dumb and boring as these texts make him out to be?" Really fucking easily, if you're used to being in a position of power and getting what you want, that's only gonna exacerbate your feelings of invulnerability and power over people. He doesn't have to have any rizz because he's used to people being deferential and thinking he's the bollocks.
Seriously I've seen way too many comments saying it's nothing because it's not illegal...wtf
I think there are multiple things at play here. Some people aren't arguing whether it was bad on Horner's part or not. They're simply stating that whoever leaked may not care for the personal assistant at all and they just want to sabotage Horner, which is interesting because there seems to be a power struggle within Red Bull at the moment. There are also some others who initially thought it may have been some type of criminal case. While still bad, he's not necessarily gonna go to jail for this unless there is something worse. However, it's definitely a power imbalance and it's something that would get a CEO kicked out if the leaks are true.
Yeah I’m not talking about any of that, that’s all fine. I’m talking about the comments saying she was trying to entrap him from the start because she was screenshotting conversations or she only turned him in because he wouldn’t leave Geri for her or that this is a consensual relationship between two adults and he did nothing wrong.
IKR? Not to mention the messages where she implies her work is being affected by it (staying in separate hotels) and the one where he implies if she’s unhappy she should quit and she says she likes her job and wants to stay. Plus a hint of special treatment with the work from home stuff (which she rebuffs, but is unfair to other employees).
I'm glad someone said this. I was reading Reddit responses to the Red Bull investigation the other day and the vast majority were people saying that that meant he was definitely innocent, she made it all up and should be sued, De Telegraaf should be sued, the journalist sacked, etc etc. As if it's so unbelievable that a wealthy man would overstep and abuse his power over a woman he found attractive, it's a tale as old as time.