Christian Horner With Red Bull Team At Start Of F1 Testing In Bahrain Despite Ongoing Investigation – News18

SAKHIR, Bahrain: Team principal Christian Horner was with Red Bull as Formula 1 preseason testing started Wednesday whilst he faces an ongoing investigation by the crew’s dad or mum firm into an alleged declare of misconduct.

Horner was alongside Adrian Newey, who’s the crew’s chief know-how officer and automotive designer, as Max Verstappen drove Red Bull’s new automotive initially of Wednesday’s morning session. It is the beginning of the Dutch driver’s marketing campaign for a fourth consecutive world title.

The Red Bull dad or mum firm mentioned Feb. 5 it was investigating allegations of misconduct towards a crew worker. Horner denies any wrongdoing and has continued in his position as crew principal throughout the investigation.

Mercedes crew principal Toto Wolff referred to as for transparency from the investigation as the brand new season nears.

“Formula 1 and what the teams do, we stand for for inclusion, equality, fairness, diversity, and it’s not only about talking about it, but living it day in, day out,” Wolff mentioned throughout testing.

“I think what Red Bull has started as an independent investigation, if this is done in the right way, with transparency and with that rigor, I think that’s something that we need to look at. What the outcomes are and what it means for Formula 1, and what we can learn from that.”

On the monitor, Red Bull nonetheless had the quickest automotive in testing. Verstappen set the tempo with a time that was greater than a second sooner than anybody else and accomplished 142 laps. That’s greater than double the space of subsequent week’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix and greater than some other crew accomplished Wednesday.

Lando Norris was second-quickest for McLaren, 1.14 seconds off Verstappen’s tempo and 0.1 sooner than Carlos Sainz Jr. for Ferrari. Mercedes lacked tempo on the primary day of testing with George Russell solely twelfth quickest regardless of finishing 121 laps.

While most groups designed vehicles broadly just like the 2023 Red Bull which gained all however one race, Red Bull has modified its strategy. Its new automotive has slim sidepods with vertical air intakes. It resembles an strategy Mercedes tried beforehand with little success, however Verstappen’s occasions indicated Red Bull has discovered a method to make it work.

Williams was the one crew with apparent reliability points as Alex Albon’s automotive stopped on the monitor with a technical fault. His teammate, American driver Logan Sargeant, had a dramatic spin within the afternoon session however continued.

There are three days of preseason testing by way of Friday forward of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on the similar venue subsequent week.

Each day is cut up into two periods, and groups can solely have one driver on monitor in every. That meant Lewis Hamilton, who’s leaving Mercedes on the finish of the 12 months to hitch Ferrari, was sitting out the primary day as Russell drove.

McLaren’s Norris wore a helmet with the design utilized by 2003 Indianapolis 500 winner Gil de Ferran, who died in December. De Ferran was McLaren’s sporting director when Norris first raced in F1 in 2019 and had extra lately been an adviser to the crew.

“We lost someone really special to us at the end of last year, he was a dear friend of mine and he’d been with me pretty much since I came into Formula 1. Someone who I not only had many laughs and great times with, but someone who helped me out on and off the track whenever I needed it,” Norris posted on social media. “This is the design he won the Indy 500 with, and I’ll be wearing it today as my little way to say thank you for everything and to let him know we’re thinking of him and he’s still very much part of McLaren. I hope you like it. This one is for you Gil.”

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(This story has not been edited by News18 employees and is printed from a syndicated information company feed – Associated Press)