Sky Sports swiftly transfer on from Christian Horner’s textual content scandal
- Red Bull start defence of their two world titles on the Bahrain GP this weekend
- Christian Horner was cleared of ‘coercive behaviour in direction of a feminine worker’
- But texts and images Red Bull principal allegedly despatched had been leaked on Thursday
Sky Sports’ protection of the Bahrain Grand Prix swiftly moved on from the controversy surrounding Red Bull boss Christian Horner after acknowledging the game is on the ‘back and front pages’.
Horner is going through renewed strain after what seemed to be intimate WhatsApp exchanges with a feminine colleague had been despatched to Formula One’s most influential figures on Thursday.
The bombshell e mail contained 79 paperwork, together with lots of of messages, a lot of them of a sexual nature.
The nameless sender copied in main folks within the sport, akin to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 chief govt Stefano Domenicali, in addition to accredited media gathered in Bahrain for the scandal-ridden opening race of the season.
Around 24 hours earlier, Horner had been cleared of ‘coercive behaviour’ by his group’s mum or dad firm, Red Bull GmbH, in Salzburg. That adopted an inner investigation, led by a KC, that gathered 150 pages of findings.
Throughout the probe, Christian Horner has maintained his innocence and insisted he was going nowhere
Red Bull launched the probe on Horner, husband of ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, on February 5
Martin Brundle (left) alongside Naomi Schiff (centre) and lead presenter Simon Lazenby (proper): The broadcaster holds the rights to air all 24 races of this 12 months’s F1 season which begins this weekend in Bahrain
On Thursday, throughout protection of observe on the first Grand Prix of the brand new season in Bahrain, Sky Sports opted to focus dialogue on the ‘sporting aspect’ of the state of affairs.
This steadfast mantra persevered as protection started on Friday, although the broadcaster acknowledged the difficulty that’s overshadowing the curtain raiser within the Gulf State.
Sky Sports F1 lead presenter Simon Lazenby conceded in his introduction that the ‘longest season in Formula One historical past begins with the game on the back and front pages’.
On Thursday, Horner’s rival group principals known as for the FIA and Formula One to scrutinise Red Bull’s determination.
‘I simply learn the assertion (regarding Wednesday’s determination, after a course of Red Bull GmbH described as ‘truthful, rigorous and neutral’), it was fairly primary,’ mentioned Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
‘My private opinion is we won’t actually look backstage. There is a girl in an organisation that has spoken to HR and mentioned there was a problem. It was investigated and yesterday the game has acquired the message that it is all wonderful, we have checked out it.
‘I consider with the aspiration as a worldwide sport, on such important matters, it wants extra transparency and I ponder what the game’s place is?’
