"Now if you go in an elevator with a woman you have to be careful": Flavio Briatore on Red Bull boss Christian Horner's scandal

Alpine F1's Executive Advisor, Flavio Briatore, made a cheeky dig at Red Bull team principal Christian Horner's "scandal" while commenting on F1's global popularity. The Italian, one of the most colorful personalities in the sport's history, is known for his larger-than-life lifestyle on and off the track.

After being banned from F1 for over a decade, the 74-year-old returned to the sport in the middle of the 2024 season when he was appointed as an advisor to Luca de Meo at the Enstone-based outfit.

During his over 30-year-old involvement with F1, Briatore has been a darling of the media for his lifestyle, which involved partying and his high-profile relationships with famous actresses and models.

However, when speaking about the media attention on F1, the Alpine advisor made a remark on Red Bull team boss Christian Horner's "scandal" last year and said, via Formula Passion:

"Nowadays F1 is also very mediatic, now if you go in an elevator with a woman you have to be careful. In terms of abuse, we have gone from one extreme to the other. I'm not saying that things were better before, but we need something fair, something just,"

Christian Horner was at the center of a scandal at the beginning of the 2024 season when he was accused of "inappropriate and controlling" behavior toward a female employee of the Austrian team.

After an internal investigation conducted by Red Bull GMbh, the 51-year-old was cleared of all the accusations and allowed to continue with his role within the team.

Christian Horner makes a startling revelation on his scandal in 2024

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner stated that he was "touched" by the letters of support from his team members during a trying time last year.

Speaking with AP, the CEO and team principal of the Milton-Keynes outfit reflected on the surprising gesture and said:

“What really touched me was that I had all the senior members of the team coming to my office and individually giving me letters of support. Sometimes it looked like the world was against us, but internally we remained strong.

“I trusted in me and myself and the process and with the support of my amazing family and amazing wife and some great people, some outstanding team members. I just let the process play out,” he added.

Despite support from senior members of the team, there were multiple reports of an internal conflict within the team regarding the leadership.

Horner had to deal with a lot of criticism thrown his way, including Red Bull driver Max Verstappen's father, Jos Verstappen, being openly critical of Horner staying his job and speaking on multiple occasions about its effect on the team and its on-track performance.