“I’m disappointed in Ron’s comments,” Horner said. “The matter is now in the
hands of the lawyers, but this is something we will defend vigorously. We
don’t see there is any case to answer.
“It’s disappointing McLaren has pursued this route. Perhaps Ron would have
been better giving me a call.”
But the terse exchanges did not end there. Dennis then accused of Horner of
being a “bit rich” in his remarks, claiming he contacted the 40-year-old
before Red Bull announced Fallows return.
“We formally emailed Christian Horner more than two weeks ago, asking him
about Dan Fallows’ whereabouts, so it’s a bit rich for him to say ‘Why
didn’t Ron call me?’ now.
“Moreover, the point is that Fallows has a legally binding contract with
McLaren yet Red Bull chose to ignore that and instead convince him to return
to Red Bull.”
Tensions are not only in danger of bubbling over between McLaren and Red Bull.
The relationship between the world champions and Mercedes, the dominant team
of 2014, has soured over the past week after the latter attempted to have
Red Bull banned for three races for breaching fuel regulations in Australia
last month.
Niki Lauda, Mercedes’ F1 Chairman, took a cake he brought from Vienna into the
Red Bull paddock unit yesterday in a bid to clear the air.
But Red Bull’s motor racing consultant, Helmut Marko, apparently elected to
throw the cake in the bin, joking that Lauda would be better of wearing a
bullet-proof vest the next time he came back to their hospitality area.