It’s been a suspenseful week at Red Bull Racing. By now, you would know that Christian Horner is in the midst of a controversy and an investigation after he was accused of ‘inappropriate behavior’ toward a female employee. This has led to a lot of speculation, and now, the British boss has suffered another blow, this time at the hands of his friend and oldest ally, Adrian Newey.

Christian Horner poached the F1 genius from McLaren back in 2006, and he has been, without a doubt, his best recruit. The two have enjoyed a lot of success together with two different drivers in two separate stints – Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen. While they may have seen the team change over the years, they’ve remained constant and become close friends. But now, because of this controversy, there are speculations of a crack in their friendship.

Well, according to Fastest Pitstop’s latest tweet, “The bond of friendship between Adrian Newey and Christian Horner is said to have been broken.” Per reports, Newey has expressed his desire to stay loyal to the team no matter who leaves or stays. This stance by Newey completely invalidates all claims about an intertwined contract, which would allow the brilliant British engineer to leave as well.

Recently, F1 journalist Joe Saward raised the possibility that Christian Horner and Red Bull designer Adrian Newey may have contracts that protect one another. He wrote, “It has long been believed that Christian Horner and Adrian Newey have contracts that protect one another. If one leaves, the other can as well. This has never been confirmed – but it makes for an interesting dynamic if something were to happen to Horner.”

Even if there is such a clause in the contract, the British engineer is rumored to have communicated his desire to stay with the Austrian team. If these rumors are true, this broken friendship with Red Bull’s technical director will hurt Horner, especially after his comments about Newey at the start of the year.

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Christian Horner levied huge praise for his best acquisition at Red Bull – Adrian Newey

When Horner took over Red Bull in 2005, his first order of business was to fire the then-technical director Guenther Steiner and hire Adrian Newey. Newey was part of McLaren at the time, and the Woking outfit was on an upward trajectory – with the 2007 and 2008 seasons as proof.

So convincing Newey to join Red Bull would’ve been difficult, and retaining him would’ve been even harder. However, the British boss never stopped believing in their chances and Newey’s qualities. As a result of Horner’s persistence, we now know the kind of success they’ve enjoyed together. This is precisely why Newey is still Horner’s No.1 acquisition in this sport, and he confessed that at the start of the year.

On the Sky Sports F1 podcast, Horner said, “One of the key things for me was missing from the moment that I arrived was clear technical direction. And growing up, I’d always been a fan of Adrian Newey and the cars that he created. I very early set my sights. Adrian is the best in the business. Technically, the guy that can see air molecules. And so, I made it my target to try and attract Adrian to bring him into the team. I was able to make that happen. And I think once Adrian joined, it instilled a belief within the organization that we’re not here to finish second.”

We hardly hear such praise for an engineer in the sport, but Horner clearly values the British engineer. However, it will be interesting to see the team’s state after the Friday revelation.

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