Red Bull team principal Christian Horner launched an astonishing tirade against the Formula One media as he attempted to defend Azerbaijan’s forthcoming inclusion on the calendar.
Horner, along with his counterparts in Ferrari’s Marco Mattiacci, McLaren’s Eric Boullier, Vijay Mallya from Force India, Sauber’s Monish Kaltenborn and Claire Williams from Williams, faced several tricky questions during the FIA team principals’ press conference.
When the focus switched towards why Formula One ventures into areas that are suspect given the human rights record of certain countries, including Azerbaijan, Horner turned on his inquisitor, and the F1 press in general.
“This is becoming a very depressing press conference where we’re focused on the negativities,” said an exasperated Horner.
“When we sign up for that championship we put our faith and trust in the promoter and the FIA, and we will attend those races unless they deem it unnecessary for us to be there.
“It is wrong to make Formula One a political subject. We should be talking about what a great race it was for Lewis Hamilton to come through the grid.
“Yet all we do is focus on the negatives, and it has to be said, it gets pretty boring for us to sit up here and fend off these questions.
“How about asking some questions about what’s going to happen in the race on Sunday, about what’s going to happen in qualifying tomorrow?
“If you’ve got these (other) questions then please point them at Mr (Jean) Todt (FIA president) or Mr (Bernie) Ecclestone rather than the teams.”
Azerbaijan joins the calendar in 2016 and has been given the name of Grand Prix of Europe as F1 further expands its reach into the eastern part of the continent given Russia debuts later this year.
