Red Bull top management had threatened to resign if Christian Horner was fired for his inappropriate conduct scandal: Reports

Dutch journalist Erik Van Haren has reported that Red Bull's top management had signed a letter saying that they would step down if Christian Horner was removed from his role at the team, amid tensions surrounding him last year. The Briton was under pressure at the start of last season, after it was reported that a female employee had accused him of misconduct and controlling behavior.

Much has been made of the dynamic inside Red Bull Racing since the team's underwhelming performance during last week's Bahrain GP. There were even reports suggesting that Max Verstappen's manager, Raymond Vermeulen, was seen arguing with Helmut Marko in the paddock after the race.

But amid these tensions, and the rumors of the team's main man Verstappen potentially leaving at the end of this season, it is being reported that team boss Christian Horner maintains a strong position within the team. Erik Van Haren has reported that the 51-year-old has the backing of major shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya, which means he sits pretty at the top of the team.

Writing for De Telegraaf in an article that was published on Friday, April 18, Van Haren also shared a claim of how Horner reportedly survived at the team last season, amid tensions surrounding him due to the inappropriate behavior accusations hanging over him. This was apparently with the help of the senior management at the Milton Keynes-based team.

"Despite the sporting setback, it is crystal clear that Horner is firmly in the saddle," wrote Van Haren.

"When the team boss was under enormous pressure early last year, all the top staff reportedly signed a letter that they would step down if the team boss and CEO were dismissed." he added.

The allegations made by the female employee were looked into internally by Red Bull, and then its parent company, and Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing by independent judges on both occasions. The employee is now reportedly suing Horner at the employee tribunal in the United Kingdom.

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Red Bull boss Christian Horner reveals the nature of 'crisis summit' that took place after the Bahrain GP

Christian Horner & Helmut Marko joined by Red Bull GmbH managing director Oliver Mintzlaff at the Saudi Arabian GP - Source: Getty

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner explained that the meeting the team had after the Bahrain GP was simply part of a post-race debrief. This summit was reported in the media as being a 'crisis meeting' at the time.

Speaking to the media on Friday ahead of the Saudi GP, Horner shared the true nature of the meeting last week, describing it as a simple discussion with the engineers.

"If you sit down with your engineers and discuss the race, I wouldn't describe that as a crisis summit - we have lots of [discussions]," said Horner via Autosport.

"I think the crisis summit was described as the meeting after the race in Bahrain - but you sit down and you discuss these things logically. There's always engineering solutions to engineering issues. There's not a crisis. We're not where we want to be, we've got some issues with the car that we're working through and the whole team's working incredibly hard." he added.

Horner also claimed that the Austrian team now understands the issues with the RB21 challenger, and will be bringing significant upgrades in the coming weeks to improve the car. For now though, it remains to be seen if the team will be able to provide Verstappen with a car good enough for him to compete for his fifth drivers' championship.