2024 Formula 1 Season thread

[The-Real-Deal82]

I’ve seen suggestions of Horner leaves, then Marko and Newey will too. We could have an entirely new Red Bull by mid season! Maybe that team does need a change? Like losing 30mph or so?

 

[CWallace]

I think Newey leaving would not really impact the RB20, but it could impact how dominant the RB21 and later chassis are and, of course, should he go to another team, their 2026 contender will certainly benefit. And if they also nail the engine, then we're back to another multi-year domination.

So in the interest of the future of the sport, I hope Newey retires.

As for Marko, he can't return to the shadows soon enough.

 

[Glideslope]

They must be rather stupid to have done that considering no other publications have released anything despite the name of the employee being rumoured and the leaks being out nearly a week. Even ‘The Scum’ or the ‘Daily Fail’ haven’t published this and I’d imagine they have been begging their lawyers for the green light.

Jos Verstappen is known as a vile bloke and his public outbursts make me suspicious he hasn’t had a hand in some of these leaks to the press etc.

Max, take a leaf out of Lewis Hamilton’s book and sack your Dad. Lewis did it in 2009 because he wanted a father/son relationship and not a management role, but Jos is an absolute tool and not doing Max’s image any good at all. He needs to distance himself from Jos and get a proper professional looking after his interests. Red Bull have put up with his controlling stake in his son’s career but I doubt the board at Mercedes Benz or Ferrari would be quite so lenient.

Max's agent is apparently engaging with RBR now in place of Jos.

 

[Glideslope]

Apparently Jos was quite close with the lady in question too (rumour) as they were pictured together on a yacht after the 2021 finale in Abu Dhabi.

Horner has always put Max first but sometimes Max has been outperformed by Checo and Jos doesn’t seem to like that. It’s almost like he’s forgotten what racing in motorsport is like and is blinded by his son’s image.

Yea, I read that. Certainly connects allot of dots.........

 

[Pezimak]

I’ve seen suggestions of Horner leaves, then Marko and Newey will too. We could have an entirely new Red Bull by mid season! Maybe that team does need a change? Like losing 30mph or so?

As I understand Marok is the one in a power struggle with Horner, so I think only one of them will leave if any do.

Jos is a nasty piece of work, he can certainly be banned from the pit lane for good.

 

[Pezimak]

Max's agent is apparently engaging with RBR now in place of Jos.

Good! Max has had the odd outburst as we’ve seen, but his dad is in another level, he needs to kick him to the kerb quick, and seriously for RB to ban his dad from the pit lane for a few races, let the team settle down, and if Max‘s dad is proven to have helped leak everything he should be charged.
Something very dirty about this girl and her claims and Jos.

The team is obviously dominant, hugely successful, and selfish idiots are trying to bring it down over petty arrogance and hurt egos it seems?

 

[Pezimak]

Jos already has a pretty outsized role within Red Bull Racing. He has input on GP weekend strategy and overall vehicle development. Notice how he is often around Max and the car on GP weekends rather than standing in the back with the other guests and driver families.

Jos' beef with Horner seems to be that Horner will not always default to doing what helps Max during a race, even if it doesn't help the team. So he wants a Team Principle who will put his son first, even if that means employing qualifying and race strategies that might cost the team, overall.

Classic example of a bruised ego, and from I can gather Jos has quite the ego. Think RB should put him down a leg or two and out him in his place.

 

[laptech]

Reading the numerous posts in here about Jos, about there being bad blood between him and Horner and that he has appeared in photo's with Horner's accuser and knows the woman on some personal level. Therefore if there was any investigation into the whatsapp message leak he would be considered a suspect but how would his son Max feel about his father being investigated about the leaks. I have no doubt any such investigation would involve Max as to what kind of conversations he has with his father about RBR and the content of those conversations. Would he be happy that he would be grilled about his own father? Does he have a close relationship with his father that he would threaten to quit the team if his father was investigated about the message leaks?

Tough times ahead for RBR.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Reading the numerous posts in here about Jos, about there being bad blood between him and Horner and that he has appeared in photo's with Horner's accuser and knows the woman on some personal level. Therefore if there was any investigation into the whatsapp message leak he would be considered a suspect but how would his son Max feel about his father being investigated about the leaks. I have no doubt any such investigation would involve Max as to what kind of conversations he has with his father about RBR and the content of those conversations. Would he be happy that he would be grilled about his own father? Does he have a close relationship with his father that he would threaten to quit the team if his father was investigated about the message leaks?

Tough times ahead for RBR.

As this is not a criminal investigation, I doubt the internal investigation can ask for evidence of personal conversations unless they were performed on company property/equipment. It does look like an impressively successfull team like Red Bull is on the verge of a hierachy collapse, over a greed of power. How long before the lady who made the complaint is pushed forward as the scapegoat to save the reputations of men who should have known better?

In the meantime Red Bull have a sickeningly quick car that no other team is near, so no excitement on the race track to steer any attention away from the soap opera unfolding.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Something very dirty about this girl and her claims and Jos.

The team is obviously dominant, hugely successful, and selfish idiots are trying to bring it down over petty arrogance and hurt egos it seems?

Unless she made the complaint because she felt she was being sexually harassed/bullied at work? She went through the correct process and if that leak is real, she provided the necessary evidence to the investigation panel. What has been done with it afterwards is the dirty part and I highly doubt this lady leaked it herself as it would jeopardise any outcome and chance of keeping her job or receiving financial compensation.

One thing is for sure, and that is even companies as slick as Red Bull seem completely inept at handling basic HR processes and for those of us that work for more commerical companies who also mess this sort of thing up, that is strangely amusing lol.

 

[Pezimak]

Unless she made the complaint because she felt she was being sexually harassed/bullied at work? She went through the correct process and if that leak is real, she provided the necessary evidence to the investigation panel. What has been done with it afterwards is the dirty part and I highly doubt this lady leaked it herself as it would jeopardise any outcome and chance of keeping her job or receiving financial compensation.

One thing is for sure, and that is even companies as slick as Red Bull seem completely inept at handling basic HR processes and for those of us that work for more commerical companies who also mess this sort of thing up, that is strangely amusing lol.

I don't put anything past this Jos bloke, saw a video I didn't see before where Checo won a race last year I think, and he was celebrating with his team in the parking bay for the top 3 cars, and when he jumped across the team hugging over the barrier Jos totally blanked him and had a face of thunder, cause Max came second.
As for HR they are never good departments. I guess they vary though?

 

[laptech]

As this is not a criminal investigation, I doubt the internal investigation can ask for evidence of personal conversations unless they were performed on company property/equipment. It does look like an impressively successfull team like Red Bull is on the verge of a hierachy collapse, over a greed of power. How long before the lady who made the complaint is pushed forward as the scapegoat to save the reputations of men who should have known better?

In the meantime Red Bull have a sickeningly quick car that no other team is near, so no excitement on the race track to steer any attention away from the soap opera unfolding.

It would depend on the context and content of the conversations. Even if the conversations are private there are could still be company related things that are not allowed to be discussed even in private and a company is allowed to explore that avenue during an internal investigation. Any thing said on company property or on company time is not privileged and failure to disclose content of conversations during company time or on company property can lead to disciplinary action.

The leaked messages have put RBR into a very difficult position because they can no longer give the woman a settlement out side of any investigation because it would be seen as paying for her silence to protect the job of Horner and if she is made a scapegoat then again it will appear as it is being done so to protect the job of Horner.

If the female employee feels she is in the right and has a case against Horner but the investigation into her complaint was steered to exonerate Horner then her only course of action is to claim their her position in the company has become untenable and the work environment has now become toxic towards and against her that she is now forced to resign because it has become extremely difficult to carry on working there, she could submit a claim of constructive dismissal and take the case to a employment tribunal court where her claim and all the evidence against Horner would be made public.

But on the other hand, if the female employee is of the belief that the internal investigation was conducted properly and fairly and agrees with it's outcome and now just wants to move on and get on with her work then it is clear that someone within RBR or a 3rd party associated with RBR is trying to destabilize RBR by going after Horner and is using the female employee to do it.

 

[Glideslope]

It would depend on the context and content of the conversations. Even if the conversations are private there are could still be company related things that are not allowed to be discussed even in private and a company is allowed to explore that avenue during an internal investigation. Any thing said on company property or on company time is not privileged and failure to disclose content of conversations during company time or on company property can lead to disciplinary action.

The leaked messages have put RBR into a very difficult position because they can no longer give the woman a settlement out side of any investigation because it would be seen as paying for her silence to protect the job of Horner and if she is made a scapegoat then again it will appear as it is being done so to protect the job of Horner.

If the female employee feels she is in the right and has a case against Horner but the investigation into her complaint was steered to exonerate Horner then her only course of action is to claim their her position in the company has become untenable and the work environment has now become toxic towards and against her that she is now forced to resign because it has become extremely difficult to carry on working there, she could submit a claim of constructive dismissal and take the case to a employment tribunal court where her claim and all the evidence against Horner would be made public.

But on the other hand, if the female employee is of the belief that the internal investigation was conducted properly and fairly and agrees with it's outcome and now just wants to move on and get on with her work then it is clear that someone within RBR or a 3rd party associated with RBR is trying to destabilize RBR by going after Horner and is using the female employee to do it.

Definitely some 3rd party involvement. The suspects are too numerous to even mention.....

 

[Don Quixote]

So how many races are on Saturdays this season?

 

[Apple fanboy]

So how many races are on Saturdays this season?

Just the ones in the Middle East for Ramadan.
Unless you are including Sprints. I don’t! Get rid.

 

[Don Quixote]

Just the ones in the Middle East for Ramadan.
Unless you are including Sprints. I don’t! Get rid.

Ok, I thought there might be religious reasons.

 

[Don Quixote]

Sounds like a stupid thing to fall out over! He backs Max over Perez 99% of the time!

I'll go a little deeper, 99.99999999999999% ...

 

[CWallace]

I miss you and the Boys, Bob.

 

[CWallace]

The "preferred" time penalty for passing a car off the track has been raised from the previous five seconds to ten seconds. It is hoped that this will encourage teams to order their drivers to hand the position back as 10 seconds is considered a harder gap to generate versus five seconds before the penalty is served during a pit stop or at race end.

 

[Glideslope]

The "preferred" time penalty for passing a car off the track has been raised from the previous five seconds to ten seconds. It is hoped that this will encourage teams to order their drivers to hand the position back as 10 seconds is considered a harder gap to generate versus five seconds before the penalty is served during a pit stop or at race end.

Excellent. Let’s see if it’s enforced.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

The bit in bold is an interesting point you make. As far as I am aware, even with the leaked messages, all Horner keeps on saying is he denies the allegations against him. He has not actually denied the messages are fake, he just keeps on saying he denies the allegations against him. So, if the leaked messages are alleged to be fake, why wouldn't Horner come out and specifically say so? because that's what a person would normally do wouldn't they if they know messages/pics against them are fake, you'd say so wouldn't you?

No, a person wouldn't do that if they had any kind of professional representation. It is far better to just not comment on it. I get that from a personal and emotional perspective one might want to do that, but that would not be a smart move.

well well well, more F1 scandal that now involves a UK based F1 magazine. A UK based F1 magazine has printed an extensive article about RBR and Horner about an alleged power struggle going on within the team, they also go on to make unfounded allegations against Horner but worst still, they breach privacy rules by naming the female employee who has accused Horner of doing wrong.

I see an expensive law suit coming.

Max's father seen having a very angry and vocal argument with Horner and going public demanding that Horner be sacked and also saying that his son could leave RBR because of what's going on with Horner and now with allegations going on against the FIA president, F1 is turning into a right mess.

So many 'news' outlets involved, and so many wild stories. It is like the ethics and standard have gone out of the window. Especially so with online based 'media' companies. Very strange times.

 

[Pezimak]

Latest is there is an internal power struggle at Red Bull between the Dutch and Thai family's that own it. One side wants Horner the other doesn't. And Max has made official comments backing his dad, make of that what you will.
Let's not forget rumours are if Horner goes so can Newey, and he probably will, in fact I'd imagine half the team will go elsewhere.

They will destroy the team and what they've achieved over petty greed and selfishness.

But it looks like the team is self imploding currently.

 

[cyb3rdud3]

Latest is there is an internal power struggle at Red Bull between the Dutch and Thai family's that own it.

Austrian, not Dutch.

One side wants Horner the other doesn't. And Max has made official comments backing his dad, make of that what you will.
Let's not forget rumours are if Horner goes so can Newey, and he probably will, in fact I'd imagine half the team will go elsewhere.

Something got lost in translation; yes, Max says he supports his dad as his dad, but he hasn't said anything about which side he supports from a Red Bull perspective. He made it clear he is there for racing and doesn't comment on that.

The media don't know anything about what is going on, this seems to frustrate them and too many seem to be developing their own story lines. Same like with Jos not going to Jeddah, he is just going to another race that was already schedule, absolutely nothing to see there.

They will destroy the team and what they've achieved over petty greed and selfishness.

But it looks like the team is self imploding currently.

Let's hope there are some nice results this weekend.

 

[Pezimak]

Austrian, not Dutch.

Something got lost in translation; yes, Max says he supports his dad as his dad, but he hasn't said anything about which side he supports from a Red Bull perspective. He made it clear he is there for racing and doesn't comment on that.

The media don't know anything about what is going on, this seems to frustrate them and too many seem to be developing their own story lines. Same like with Jos not going to Jeddah, he is just going to another race that was already schedule, absolutely nothing to see there.

Let's hope there are some nice results this weekend.

Haha sorry yes Austrian. Oh the media are stirring it up alright.
Max needs to be careful with what he says, his media training should help him. Either way doesn't matter what happens behind the scenes, like the other pro drivers once in the car it is 100% focus on the race and the race only. And no doubt he'll dominate again, sadly.

 

[sunapple]

I bet something will go wrong this race weekend on track that will be directly linked to the great “Jos Verstappen conspiracy”.

Basically, the season looks to be boring so drama is fabricated off track. Social media are going nuts on this, not based on anything substantial whatsoever. Who’s damaging what now?