Netflix’s Drive to Survive has only one goal, and that is to present Formula 1 in a way that will make the audience unable to take their eyes off the screen. While race incidents, driver rivalries, and other press interview dramas keep the creators busy with constantly entertaining content, often, an unforeseen hit out of left field threatens to derail the everyday balance on the paddock.
In 2024, there were several of those to choose from, starting with Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari to Daniel Ricciardo being dropped mid-season to Adrian Newey quitting Red Bull for Aston Martin. However, nothing can top the Christian Horner allegations that started the 2024 season off with a bang.
Allegations against Christian Horner derail Red Bull
Since their F1 launch in 2005, Christian Horner has held the most prominent position as the team principal of Red Bull Racing. In the 20 years since, he has overseen eight drivers’ championships and six constructors’ championships, including the last 4 consecutive championships won by Max Verstappen.
However, 2024 would prove to be a difficult term for Horner. 10 days before Red Bull was set to launch their car for the season, behavioral misconduct allegations against the team principal were made public. By 5th February, Red Bull had launched an investigation into the complaints made by an internal female employee who accused Horner of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment.
After a thorough investigation that involved an 8-hour interrogation by an independent third-party lawyer, the complaint against Horner was dismissed. However, the internal strife caused by these allegations almost derailed the team, especially when Jos Verstappen called for Horner’s immediate removal, claiming his presence would tear the team apart.
However, after an explosive argument between the two on the paddock ahead of the season-opener Grand Prix at Bahrain, the pair eventually came to a resolution by the end of the first week of March. A subsequent appeal against the result of the investigation in August 2024 was also dismissed.
Drive to Survive documents the Horner allegations
![Christian Horner [Credit: Drive to Survive via Netflix]](https://fwmedia.fandomwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/06103805/Christian-Horner-Credit-Drive-to-Survive-via-Netflix-1-1024x660.jpg "“The end goal was for me to leave Red Bull”: Lewis Hamilton Joining Ferrari Has Got Nothing on What Drive to Survive Is Going to Milk from Christian Horner 3")
Just as Netflix arrived on location to begin filming the 2024 season, the entire paddock was up in flames due to the career-ending allegations made against the principal of one of the strongest teams on the grid. Drive to Survive filmed the exact moments Christian Horner’s phone blew up with messages about the alleged messages he exchanged with the complainant.
On February 29, a day after being cleared by Red Bull’s intense month-long investigation, an anonymous email containing alleged WhatsApp messages and images between Horner and the female employee was sent to the FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, the nine team principals on the grid, and the media.
The first episode of Drive to Survive Season 7 captures Christian Horner looking distraught as he scrolls through his phone, sitting on the paddock, moments after learning about the email. Later, he tells the Netflix docu-series [via BBC]:
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. It was obviously premeditated to cause me the maximum amount of distraction, the maximum amount of aggravation. It was obvious that the end goal was for me to leave Red Bull.
Drive to Survive may have a lot of content in the bag, even without the additional drama Netflix likes to add in the mix, but nothing can beat witnessing the explosive Horner allegations unfolding over the course of an entire month and capturing it all on camera.
Drive to Survive Season 7 premieres on Netflix on March 7, 2025.
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