2024 F1 General Discussion Thread

If its a work phone, it likely would be covered by an NDA.

I dont have much faith in RB after their internal "independent" private investigation. That turned out well.

Self preservation at all costs isnt always the best policy. Sometimes it's better to cut your losses instead of digging in and looking like an organisation that supports sexual harassment.

I hope she cleans Red Bull to the bone for a fortune.

Its a bit more professional than 'Sex Pest'

Just had a look through my WhatsApp. Id say about 10% of my messages start with a lower case letter. Not sure how exactly. Cant say Ive ever given it much thought.

Of course its possible the WhatsApps are fake but wouldn't there have been a denial? Nothing from Horner since they surfaced except a request to draw a line under it all and move on.

Wasnt expecting an article about rogue lower case WhatsApp letters though! Ridiculous stuff! 🤣

You'd surely think if RedBull are taking this action then they've strong evidence and have all their facts in order that there is wrong doing on her behalf otherwise it would be a complete publicity disaster if it isn't already. They are getting enough backlash as it is from social media and now the social media "content creators" are going after the drivers on the grid for nothing speaking up about it. I've seen Danny Ric getting slaughtered online for his response about the whole thing likewise with Stroll,Hulkenberg and Bottas

Looking forward to the Red Bull International Women’s Day posts tomorrow

Very interesting revelation today that the woman in question is dating Jos Verstappen. I'm not sure how long that has been public knowledge but what a mess. If the texts were genuine I doubt Geri would be hanging around but I find it strange that the woman was suspended today. That would lead me to believe her party leaked the texts and now she's been suspended by Red Bull as a result.

Here’s my summary.

Jos is being a complete knob. He always has been a knob going back to his own days in F1.

He has an inflated sense of his own importance, based of his gifting Max to the world. Jos really doesn’t put his son’s best interests ahead of his own. His penis is of more importance than his son’s career.

Max has a blind sense of loyalty to his father. This would seem to imply a need to impress a father who was largely cruel to his son in his early years and, I would suggest, continues to be. I find this a fascinating insight into Max’s character.

If Max leaves to join Mercedes it will be a triumph of Max’s misguided devotion to his father over logical reasoning.

Cristian Horner is ultimately a sad tosser thinks he’s god but has made the mistake that other people think so too. His marriage is under threat and he doesn’t seem to have even gotten a ride out of it. As a CEO, he should have known better than to be so indiscreet with an employee and particularly with one who was knocking off his star performer’s father.

It’s a ball of crap.

Ah pal, you have to keep up!

Why was the accuser being suspended (not dismissed) the right thing to do by Red Bull?

There’s a process to follow. There has to an investigation to determine what happened.

If the suspicion is confirmed through the investigation, she’ll be dismissed.

Its impossible for anyone outside of RB to determine if this is the right thing to do....

Either RB are making an absolute balls of this or RB know something the general public don't know. If anything, this just drags the saga out even longer. You'd forget qualifying was today.

That's not necessarily how it works at all. That's the bluff they could be playing. Big, powerful institutions are renowned for battening down the hatches and saying "come have a go". Money is the ammunition in this battle and the big, powerful institutions have more ammo than any individual.

There's a great chance the claimant takes a settlement and signs an NDA, everyone draws a line under it and we never know what actually happened. The independent investigation sounded great until they decided to show zero transparency.

We're still none the wiser about what actually happened.

this buck is standing in for Sainz

Have RB / Horner presented a good reason why they cant say the WhatsApps are fake?

If the answer is "privacy laws" then more detail on those need to be given as it seems acceptable to cast doubt on the messages due to lower case lettering (farcical) in an attempt to discredit Hewitson as dishonest but Horner cant issue a denial.

As long as theres no denial of the WhatsApps (without good reason) it looks like RB / Horner are hunkering down to take the heat until it all blows over.

If Sainz is going for operation now, will he be back for Australia? It's another 2 weeks after that before Japan (weird it's so early) so I assume he'll be sound for then. When it happened to Albon he was back for the next race but had 3 weeks rather than 2...

Audi to fully take over Sauber now.

Originally they were to take over 75% of the team, now they will take 100%.

Max saying that if Helmut leaves, it will not be a good situation.

This is wild stuff, and all the while Alonso saying he will decide in the next few weeks if he will stay on or retire. Imagine he lands at RB because Max leaves over Helmut...

Don't worry. If helmut is sacked and Jos banished, young max will know which side his bread is buttered on and be more than happy to remain sitting in the redbull car.

It will be easy enough for him to save face say he is staying for the good of the team and to support the factory staff etc.

Looks like horner is sitting pretty.

Max has drawn the battle lines tonight ; Helmut stays ,Horner goes or otherwise he goes.

The words Max is using in his statements 'Jos is not a liar ',' Helmut is honest and has integrity ' , 'Helmut built this team ' and an implication that Helmut saved Horner from the chop in the past.

Honda are also pushing for full disclosure of the truth which Max has referenced .

Max has come out in full support of Helmut in contrast to his non existent support of Christian.

Helmut has stated that he will decide if he stays or not , apparently if Helmut leaves Max then becomes a free agent thanks to a clause in his contract.

Horner out puts the Thai majority owners plan to demerge or sell the F1 team to an Horner led investment group off the table.

You're correct in the car being critical but I don't think any other driver on the grid would be able to drive the car on its limit while rarely making a mistake and extract the performance out it like he can. We've seen it countless times especially in qualifying where he can pull a couple of tenths out of nowhere and take pole. It's not just his pace but his awareness for things like watching huw other cars behave on track, other lads driving, other teams pitstops and strategies. You'd wonder if he's even human at times