Christian Horner has reportedly been asked to 'voluntarily resign' as Red Bull team principal over allegations of 'controlling behaviour' made by an employee.
The F1 chief is under investigation at Red Bull after it emerged that an employee had raised complaints against him for 'inappropriate behaviour'.
Horner has strongly denied the accusations against him, stating: “I completely deny these claims."
But Motorsport-total claim Horner the 50-year-old has been 'advised to voluntarily resign' in wake of the accusations.
Christian Horner is under investigation at Red Bull
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The report goes on to claim Horner likely rejected the request to resign in his 'initial reaction'.
It's been reported that the employee's accusations centre around Horner's strict work regime.
Red Bull released a statement confirming their conducting an internal investigation earlier this week.
"After being made aware of certain recent allegations, the company launched an independent investigation," the statement read.
"This process, which is already under way, is being carried out by an external specialist barrister.
"The company takes these matters extremely seriously and the investigation will be completed as soon as practically possible.
"It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time."
Horner's wife, Spice Girl Geri Horner, is said to be 'standing by' her husband amid the allegations against him.
Williams team principal James Vowles was quizzed about the accusations Horner is facing during the launch of his team's 2024 livery.
Christian Horner has denied the accusations
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“These allegations are allegations,” he told Bloomberg.
“I'm afraid I don't have any understanding of what is behind them and the significance of what has happened.
“All I can say [is] that should this ever happen in our regard, we'll be entirely supportive in terms of fixing it and making sure we have a culture that is accepting of everyone.
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Christian Horner faces his hearing on Friday
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"I think it means we all have to look each other in the mirror and make sure that we are posing the right questions internally and acting in a way that we can only be proud of, not today but in the next 10 years."
Horner has been a part of the Red Bull set up since they first made it onto the F1 grid back in 2005.
The Englishman has led the team to six Constructors' Championship titles as well as overseeing Sebastian Vettel's and Max Verstappen's respective eras of dominance.