Christian Horner has spoken to Sky Sports
They are his first public comment since being cleared.
“I’m just pleased that the process is over,” Horner told Sky Sports News ahead of free practice on Thursday.
“Obviously, I can’t comment about it, but we are here very much to focus now on the Grand Prix and the season ahead and trying to defend both of our titles.”
Asked if he thought it was the end of the matter, he added: “Well, I can’t give you any further comment. But the process has been conducted and concluded.”
Horner, who has been in charge of Red Bull since the team’s formation in 2005, was asked if he had any regrets.
“Again, I’m not going to be able to give you, I’m afraid, any further comments on it, but I’m pleased to be here in Bahrain and then with the team focused on the season ahead.”
Asked if the team is unified, he added: “Within the team, it has never been stronger.”
The 2024 season is about to begin…
Today is the day – the 2024 Formula One season kicks off properly with first and second practice for the 2024 Bahrain Grand Prix. We’ve had three days of testing at the very same track a week ago but today we have the cars hit the track for the first time in anger.
The format of the first race “weekend” and the second one too are slightly different this year in that they run from Thursday until Saturday, with the main race taking place on Saturday. This is because Ramadan begins on Sunday March 10 and that would have clashed with the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix in Jeddah next week, so that was moved to a Saturday. The regulations state that at least seven days must elapse between races so that means Bahrain was moved forward a day, too.
Despite testing last week, the biggest stories over the winter have been Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari and the investigation into Christian Horner at Red Bull over inappropriate behaviour. The latter of those has continued to this point, with Horner only yesterday being cleared. Will that be the end of it, though?
Credit: Getty Images/Clive Rose
On track there is at least some intrigue as there is at the start of every F1 season, even if everyone expected Max Verstappen to clinch a fourth successive title. How much will we know about the competitive order come the end of second practice?
Well, there is definitely a large element of teams holding their true pace back or doing ‘glory runs’ in pre-season testing. There is also some degree of that in Friday practice, too, but because second practice is the only session that is run in similar conditions to qualifying tomorrow. So expect that we will have a far clearer idea of how things might shake out, but the true test comes in qualifying on Saturday.
It would be nice to see someone challenge Verstappen. The best hope is the man in the same car – Sergio Perez – but given how he drove last season it is difficult for him to sustain any kind of significant challenge. In any case, just because Verstappen might stroll to the race on Saturday, that does not mean he cannot be caught at some point in the season. The issue is that he will have likely built an unassailable lead by then…
Anyway, the hour-long first practice begins at 11.30am GMT and we will be here for all the updates as well as those from second practice at 3pm later in the day.