@Hopingitsahornyfinger You ask what I think of CH as a F1 fan. Never liked him much, seems arrogant. As a team principal he's one of the best and the longest serving one in the paddock; has done wonders with that team, so I try to keep my subjective views about the person separate from my objective ones about his ability. However much he has clearly been an irresponsible prat I feel sorry for the whole situation, but mainly his kids. Re Geri, I guess the old saying that when you marry your mistress you create a vacancy, applies. I have no opinion on the woman involved in this case because we do not know where this is coming from - she's too old to be naive, are the texts real? Was this a set up? What was the power play between Horner and her, what is the power play between the 51% Thai owners who favour Horner and the 49% Austrian parent company and Helmut Marko - possibly also Jos Verstappen (Max's father). How much was, or was not, consensual on the woman's part......We just don't know. The only definite thing we can say is that the whole situation was stupid and either immoral or amoral.
On the broader issue of the sport there are now more women and ethic minorities involved than a decade ago. In most garages you now see female engineers and mechanics and on the pitwall you see female strategists. The most successful strategist is Hannah Schultz, head of strategy on Redbull's pitwall. A strategic genius who had made a massive contribution to Max Versappen's success, so I think the comments made by one or two posters that women are just collateral damage is not true in general. Even back in the 1950s when I started watching, F1 drivers' wives and girlfriends were common on the pitwall as timers, support staff etc. More moves are being made to make F1 more welcoming with, for example, the F1 academy for budding female racers. Their races this year are support races on the main calendar. There will be more women in the sport as more girls are now starting karting at young ages - the best way of entry.
The whole situation is a blemish on the sport I love, but given the money, the thousands of staff and power plays involved, I am surprised this sort of scandal is not more common.Most scandals over the years have involved various forms of technological or racing cheating .
Sorry, that was long...