The moment Christian Horner found out about leaked messages in the Netflix series ‘Drive to Survive’

Season seven of Formula 1: Drive to Survive uncovers the precise moment at which Red Bull team boss Christian Horner learned about an email with supposed texts between him and a female staff member. The documentary series gives an insider view of the life of Formula 1 and catches up with the mounting controversy that saturated headlines and made Red Bull bosses subject to furious scrutiny.


In the seventh season of the documentary, Horner admits to the pressures of his job, “The higher you rise, the sharper the knives. I'd reached the top of my game, and I never thought in a million years I'd have a challenge like this in my career.”
Word has emerged that Horner was facing an investigation regarding claims of coercive, abusive treatment, and sexual harassment. The timing of the news posted to undermine the reigning champions’ bid for a fourth straight drivers’ championship.

The opening moments of the new season hint at the storm ahead. While celebrating Red Bull’s dominant 2023 season—where Dutch driver Max Verstappen secured a record-breaking 19 wins from 22 races—Horner’s wife, Geri Halliwell-Horner, ominously remarks, "The truth is, you never know what life’s going to bring.”
As speculation grew over whether Horner should resign, the documentary shows him and his wife walking side by side ahead of the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Their strained faces highlight the huge pressure surrounding the controversy.
“It's a key time of the year, and the work that I do, you're the face of the organization,” Horner states in the documentary. “You can either hideaway or you can get out there and face it.”

The row spilled over into Red Bull, with McLaren boss Zak Brown demanding that Red Bull make public its internal investigation. Horner is heard in a backroom moment reacting to Brown's comment with an obscenity, saying, “Well, you find out who your friends are, don't you?”
While Red Bull cleared Horner after their own investigation, the scandal flared up again on the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend when an anonymous email with purported messages was sent out to Formula 1 staff and media.
“At the end of the second practice, suddenly my phone starts getting messages and this, that, and the other. There's a bombshell that's dropped with a bunch of alleged messages,” Horner said as he felt the timing was deliberate. “It was obviously premeditated to cause me the maximum amount of distraction, the maximum amount of aggravation.”

Even at Red Bull, resignations were being called for Horner. Max Verstappen's father, Jos Verstappen, spoke out saying during the Bahrain Grand Prix that he believed Red Bull would be ‘torn apart’ under Horner's control.
Later, an appeal of Red Bull's probe—filed by the same co-worker who had initially made the charges—was dismissed in August 2024. Horner, who has denied all allegations throughout, is still at the head of Red Bull Racing.
Also read: Christian Horner attacks Zak Brown in Netflix's new series 'Drive to Survive' trailer
After he became Red Bull team principal in 2005, Horner has led the team to remarkable success as the team secured eight drivers' championships and six constructors' championships. Despite the controversy, Horner’s tenure remains one of the most successful in modern Formula 1 history.