Cold Fussion wrote: ↑03 Mar 2024, 14:50
Why would Horner resign now of his own volition now? He's had his employer public say the case against him has been dismissed, and the the dirty laundry to provide leverage to get him to resign has already been released publicly. The only logic i can see to that outcome is the report has determined he has committed a serious ethical violation and either recommends or strongly suggests he should be removed and Red Bull hasn't followed that advice. This also requires the leaker to be fully aware of the outcomes of the report, while also not having access it, because if they had leaked this report he would most likely have been fired within a day of it leaking. If the report is like this, I suspect Horner is living on borrowed time and will either resign or be fired soon.
Ultimately, leadership requires consent to lead.
This internal process ended in the dismissal of the complaint, not a vindication. But we can conclude that whoever had the deciding vote (the Thai’s allegedly) decided it wasn’t enough to sack him.
Next, we get all this content leaked. I don’t think media pressure makes Horner walk, but what it could do is break that internal consent. What was Christian saying to Newey, to Max et al during this process? If he’s insisted he was never screwing the PR girls, and now we’ve got a bunch of texts saying he was, how are those personal relationships that his leadership is based on?
Even with the more rank and file, we often hear F1 teams are built on folk going the extra mile, they need that motivation from leadership. Can he still walk into the factory and inspire that, or will it be greeted with a reaction of ‘aye sure, I’ll stay late while you’re sneaking off with your secretary?’
That’s ultimately what the purpose of leaking this content is, it could make his position untenable internally. That’s essentially what Jos has said.