Christian Horner will continue as team principal of the Red Bull Formula One team after he was cleared of “inappropriate behaviour”.
Here, the PA news agency looks at the key questions surrounding the controversy which has rocked Horner, Red Bull, and the sport.
What were the accusations against Horner?
On February 5, Red Bull Racing’s parent company GmbH confirmed Horner was under investigation following an accusation of “inappropriate behaviour”. The company said it “takes these matters extremely seriously and the investigation will be completed as soon as practically possible”.
Horner denied the claim – made by a female colleague – and remained as team principal and CEO of the Milton Keynes-based team. It is understood the complainant also continued in her role.
How did Red Bull react?
Horner was questioned by a lawyer for eight hours at a secret London location. There was no immediate resolution and Horner subsequently appeared at Red Bull’s car launch on February 15.
He continued to dismiss the allegations. Horner then headed to Bahrain for last week’s three-day test before returning to England, while Red Bull’s Austrian board met to discuss his future.
What was the verdict?
On the eve of this weekend’s curtain raiser – and 23 days after it emerged Horner was under investigation – Red Bull GmBH said the grievance against the 50-year old had been dismissed.
The corporation said it was confident the investigation had been “fair, rigorous and impartial” but added that the report, understood to stretch to 150 pages, is “confidential”.
Is this the end of it?
That remains to be seen. Red Bull said the complainant has “a right of appeal”. It is unclear at this stage whether she will pursue any further action. Horner is due to be on the Red Bull pit-wall for practice on Thursday.
What does it mean for Max Verstappen?
Despite the controversy, the Dutch driver will head into Saturday’s curtain raiser as the favourite to win his fourth world championship.
Speaking before it had been confirmed Horner would remain as team principal, Verstappen said: “He (Horner) is very important otherwise he wouldn’t have been in that position for such a long time.”
Gasly disqualified from Azerbaijan GP qualifying over fuel breach
Pierre Gasly has been disqualified from the results of qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix as stewards deemed his Alpine car over the fuel flow limit.
Gasly was eliminated in the second qualifying session, after posting a time which was good enough for 13th, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Haas and Lance Stroll of Aston Martin.
However, shortly after the session's end, stewards summoned Alpine and Gasly over a possible breach of Article 5.2.3 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations, which covers fuel mass flow.
This punishment means Gasly will start Sunday's race at the back of the grid alongside Sauber's Zhou Guanyou, who also suffered a penalty this weekend, as the Chinese driver had exceeded the allowance of power unit components.
Gasly's teammate, Esteban Ocon, will start the race just ahead of both in 18th, with the opportunity of Alpine gaining points in Baku this weekend looking very slim.
This is the fourth time a driver has been disqualified from qualifying results in 2024, with Gasly following Willliams' Alex Albon and the Haas duo of Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.
Leclerc continues Baku love affair as Norris' title hopes dented
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc is the Azerbaijan Grand Prix pole-sitter for the fourth year in a row after a stunning showing on the streets of Baku.
Leclerc, who emerged victorious in Monza last time out, is in a good position to close the gap to both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in the drivers' championship.
Norris will need an unlikely turn of events to close his 62-point gap to the Dutchman as he encountered yellow flags on his final lap in the first session and will start Sunday's race in 17th.
Verstappen, meanwhile, will start in sixth after being outqualified by team-mate Sergio Perez, who finished fourth, with Mercedes' George Russell sandwiched in between.
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso came next, with Williams producing an excellent display with drives from Franco Colapinto and Alex Albon to complete the top 10.
Leclerc's performance saw him record the best pole streak for a Ferrari driver in a Grand Prix since Michael Schumacher in Spain from 2000 to 2004 (five).
Speaking after qualifying, the Monegasque was confident about his chances of becoming the first driver since Felipe Massa to achieve consecutive victories on at least two occasions.
“It’s one of my favourite tracks of the season, I really like it, it hasn’t been an easy weekend because of the crash in FP1," Leclerc said.
"It didn’t make me lose confidence as I knew that the pace was there, but you’ve got to be back up to speed.
“In Q3 and qualifying it was all about trying to stay as far as possible from the walls and on the last lap I went for it a bit more and the lap time came very nicely.
“The car felt really good and everything felt great, so it’s amazing to be on pole."
Norris was on course to make it through into the second session comfortably but a yellow flag as he approached the final straight saw his flying lap ruined.
“The lap was easily good enough, but there was a yellow flag so I had to back off," Norris said.
“Following is pretty much impossible around here and overtaking is a lot worse than everyone thinks.
“I am not expecting much from 17th, but we will put in a good plan tonight and do our best of course.
"I have been wrong, and I hope there are plenty of chances, but I’m not expecting so.”
But when asked, McLaren team-mate Piastri was confident that the team have the pace to score some big points in the race for the constructors' championship.
"I think from where we are starting, yes," Piastri said.
But following around here is really tough, we saw yesterday, it was pretty tough once you get behind someone, hopefully get some clean air, which will be good.
"We'll see what we can do. I think our race pace is good, but again, the Ferraris are certainly not slow.
Qualifying results
1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)
4. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)
5. George Russell (Mercedes)
6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
7. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
8. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
9. Franco Colapinto (Williams)
10. Alex Albon (Williams)
Leclerc fastest in FP2 as Norris plays down chances of success in Baku
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was cautious about his chances of winning two Formula 1 races in succession for the first time in his career despite going fastest in the second practice of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Leclerc recovered from a crash in the morning to set the pace in the afternoon, 0.006 seconds ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez and 0.066 seconds in front of Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes.
Championship leader Max Verstappen finished fifth, while his challenger Lando Norris struggled and languished in 17th after the second classification in Baku.
Despite going quickest, Leclerc admitted there were issues with his Ferrari car, leaving work to do if he wants to get pole position in Azerbaijan for a fourth successive year.
He said: "The thing is that when we started FP2 there was an actual problem on the car that we saw later on, once I stopped, and we changed that particular part.
"It's one of the tracks that I quite like, and we've been pretty quick in the past, but that doesn't mean it will be the case for tomorrow.
"I mean, the crash, there's not much to go into. I braked a little bit too much on the right, the track was still dirty, I locked up, and it was too late to go to the right [run-off] – so I went into the wall."
Norris endured a far more difficult afternoon, only mustering 17th after coming across Alpine's Pierre Gasly in the final sector when attempting his fastest lap.
The Brit cannot afford many slip-ups from now until the end of the season, as he looks to overhaul Verstappen's 62-point lead with eight races remaining, but was downbeat about McLaren's chances this weekend, believing they were lagging behind their competitive rivals.
"We're quite a long way off," Norris said.
"I’m having to push way too much to try and get a lap time out of it.
"Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, they're all very similar. And then there's a good 0.3 to 0.4 second gap back to us, so a lot of work to do.
"Ferrari are very quick here. Mercedes will be quick with these track conditions. It's very slidey out there."
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