Horner 100% committed to Red Bull for the long term
BARCELONA, May 30 (Reuters) - Christian Horner has shut down speculation of a move to Ferrari by saying he is 100% committed to Red Bull, and for the long term.
Germany's Bild newspaper reported this week that Ferrari had recently sounded out the Briton as a possible replacement for Fred Vasseur, but Horner poured cold water on that in a Spanish Grand Prix news conference.
"Of course it's always flattering to be associated with other teams. But my commitment, 100%, is with Red Bull. It always has been and certainly will be for the long term," said the Briton.
"There's a bunch of speculation -- always is in this business -- people coming here, going there, whatever. I think people in the team know exactly what the situation is."
Horner has led Red Bull since they entered the sport in 2005, winning eight drivers' titles with Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen and six constructors' crowns, and he is the longest-serving of the 10 team principals.
His tenure has also been controversial. Married to former Spice Girl pop star Geri Halliwell, he was last year cleared of accusations of inappropriate behaviour towards a female employee.
Red Bull have lost top designer Adrian Newey, now at Aston Martin, while former sporting director Jonathan Wheatley has become principal at Sauber.
Max Verstappen's future has also been much discussed, although he has a contract to 2028, while the Dutch driver's father Jos fell out with Horner last year.
Ferrari, joined in January by seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes, have yet to win this season and are fourth overall after eight of 24 races.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
27 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Why getting married abroad could land you with a HUGE bill from the taxman
Couples marrying abroad could be landed with a huge inheritance tax bill if their foreign wedding is not legally binding, a couple has warned. Antonia Medlicott, 49, and Tim Pindar, 44, tied the knot in 2009 in the wedding of their dreams in Spain. The couples families flew out for a 'big Catholic wedding' on the continent, but were unaware that they had 14 days to register their marriage at the town hall, they told The Telegraph. The priest who officiated the wedding had tried to warn the couple that their marriage would be null and void, but the couple did not understand Spanish and the priest did not speak any English. The couple found out their marriage was not legally binding some months later, but decided to ignore it for the next 13 years. However in 2023 the couple were forced to remarry, after discovering they could be set to lose a huge amount of money if one of them passed away. The spousal exemption allows married couples to avoid paying inheritance tax when passing assets to their wife or husband when they die. Unmarried couples however, do not have the same privilege and those who leave assets worth over £325,000 have to pay 40 per cent inheritance tax on the amount over the allowance. Unmarried couples may soon lose out on pension savings too if their partner dies, under new plans by Rachel Reeves. Pension savings can currently be left to an unmarried partner without any inheritance tax being paid, but this is set to end in 2027. Ms Medlicott and her husband discovered that they could be set to lose thousands after speaking to a lawyer about their wills. She said: 'He pointed out that if something happens to either one of us, there's a massive inheritance tax bill coming our way. So we decided we would have to just get on with it.' The couple estimated they would have had an £80,000 inheritance tax bill on their house alone. With potentially more coming from pensions, savings and a business owned by Ms Medlicott. If the worst had happened, the surviving spouse would have been forced to sell their family home to cover the bill. Far from their extravagant Spanish wedding in 2009, the couple opted for a quieter affair in 2023. They described their second wedding as 'bare bones' costing around £1,000 all in - including a bottomless bunch with six friends. Ms Medlicott wore a brown dress and borrowed boots from a friend as the couple finally officially tied the knot at a civil wedding in their local registry office. Claire Trott, head of advice at St James's Place, said: 'Getting married for tax purposes isn't a new concept, particularly in the world of pensions. Many defined benefit schemes have restrictions on who death benefits can be paid to, sometimes depending on when a couple marries. 'My own father married my stepmother just before his defined benefit pension came into payment, because under the scheme rules, death benefits were only payable to the spouse at the date of retirement. Had they married after that point, even after 30 years together, she wouldn't have been entitled to anything.' She said that marriage could soon become an even more valuable planning tool to deal with inheritance tax, particularly with pensions being brought into the scope for the levy. Ms Medlicott said she felt 'resentful' about having to remarry just to save thousands of pounds. She said that marriage 'isn't for everyone' and felt it was 'ridiculous' that a piece of paper could be the difference between huge sums of money for couples.
The Independent
42 minutes ago
- The Independent
UK politics live: Labour reveals new nuclear programme and submarines ahead of Starmer defence review
Britain will build up to 12 new nuclear-powered attack submarines and invest £15 billion in its warhead programme, Sir Keir Starmer is set to announce. The government will unveil its strategic defence review today. Significant investment in the UK warhead programme this parliament and maintaining the existing stockpile are among the 62 recommendations that the government is expected to accept in full. Building the new submarines, which is part of the Aukus partnership with the US and Australia, will support 30,000 highly skilled jobs into the 2030s as well as 30,000 apprenticeships and 14,000 graduate roles across the next 10 years, the Ministry of Defence said. The £15 billion investment into the warhead programme will back the government's commitments to maintain the continuous-at-sea nuclear deterrent, build a new fleet of Dreadnought submarines and deliver all future upgrades. From the late 2030s, the fleet of up to 12 SSN-Aukus conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines will replace seven Astute-class attack submarines the UK is due to start operating. UK to build up to 12 new attack submarines and invest £15bn in warheads The UK will build up to 12 new nuclear-powered attack submarines and invest £15 billion in its warhead programme, the prime minister will announce today as the government unveils its strategic defence review. Significant investment in the UK warhead programme this parliament and maintaining the existing stockpile are among the 62 recommendations that the government is expected to accept in full. Building the new submarines, which is part of the Aukus partnership with the US and Australia, will support 30,000 highly skilled jobs into the 2030s as well as 30,000 apprenticeships and 14,000 graduate roles across the next 10 years, the Ministry of Defence said.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Starmer under pressure to save factories crushed by energy prices
Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to dramatically cut factory energy costs amid warnings huge bills are pushing Britain towards 'de-industrialisation'. Make UK, which represents Britain's biggest manufacturers, said domestic companies faced some of the highest electricity prices in Europe – and that half now viewed this as their biggest future challenge. It called on the Prime Minister to scrap a series of 'regressive' net zero levies on bills, arguing this is 'the most direct and impactful way to improve industrial competitiveness'. Make UK is also calling for the Government to provide manufacturers with wind-farm style electricity deals, known as contracts for difference (CfDs), which would fix their electricity price at a set level. The announcement comes as ministers are preparing to unveil their industrial strategy for Britain, with Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves under pressure to help firms with their energy bills. Stephen Phipson, chief executive of Make UK, said: 'If we do not address the issue of high industrial energy costs in the UK as a priority, we risk the security of our country. 'We will fail to attract investment in the manufacturing sector and will rapidly enter a phase of renewed de-industrialisation.' The proposal to remove net zero levies would not be cheap, however. It would cost the Treasury £3.8bn, while giving manufacturers CfDs would cost a further £1.1bn. Without other immediate cuts to government expenditure, this would probably have to be shifted on to general taxation or the bills of domestic consumers. Make UK suggested the schemes could be 'phased in' gradually to reduce the financial impact and argued that both measures would be revenue-neutral in the long-run because they would stimulate industrial growth. Scrapping net zero levies would slash prices Removing net zero levies would instantly slash the electricity price paid by manufacturers by about one quarter, according to the lobby group's analysis. The report said this should include scrapping the so-called renewables obligation, feed-in tariffs levy, capacity market levy, climate change levy and CfD costs. They currently account for about 6.4 pence per kilowatt hour of the 27.1 pence per kilowatt hours paid by industrial firms for electricity, Make UK said. A single levy, the renewables obligation, accounts for £2bn of the £3.8bn in levies paid per year by manufacturers alone. The legacy scheme was set up to support early wind and solar farms with 20-year subsidy deals, topping up the electricity price they are paid. It closed to new entrants in 2017, having been replaced with newer CfDs. CfDs guarantee renewable generators a price at which they can sell electricity, with the Government paying the difference if market prices are lower than this and generators repaying the state when market prices go higher. Manufacturers want a similar arrangement, but in reverse. This would mean they are guaranteed a fixed price for buying, rather than selling, electricity – with the Government once again covering any difference. Ministers have previously suggested they intend to provide further support on energy costs for manufacturers in the industrial strategy, but this has previously only been extended to the most energy-intensive firms such as steel makers, glass blowers and ceramic factories. A policy known as the 'British industrial supercharger', which exempts these companies from many policy costs as well as network charges, benefits around 400 businesses. But Make UK warned that the supercharger 'does not eliminate the need' for greater action on energy bills, as it only benefitted a relatively small number of firms. 'Not only is most of the manufacturing sector still exposed to these high costs, [but] as the costs of the supercharger are met by other electricity bill payers, ineligible manufacturers are facing an even greater share of costs, to subsidise eligible energy-intensive industries, further exacerbating the problem,' its report added. On Friday, a spokesman for the Government said: 'Through our clean power mission, we will get off the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets – protecting business and household finances with clean, home-grown energy that we control. 'We are already bringing energy costs for UK industries closer in line with other major economies through the British Industry Supercharger – saving businesses £5bn over the next ten years.' Inflation to rise Separately on Monday, the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) warned households must brace for more inflation as businesses face rising costs. Private sector output is set to plunge at the fastest pace since Liz Truss's mini-budget in 2022, according to its survey of businesses across the economy. Alpesh Paleja, economist at the CBI, said the £25bn raid on employers' National Insurance Contributions and recent minimum wage rise were the primary concerns among businesses. Rising prices raise the threat of sustained high interest rates as the Bank of England balances the risk of low growth against stubborn inflation. Mr Paleja said: 'There is a very strong concern among the Monetary Policy Committee, at least a majority, of inflation persistence, particularly domestic price pressures being quite sticky. 'You've got price pressures in the services sector firming further but output remaining weak, so that trade off is quite prominent for the MPC. Rates will probably be cut at still quite a gradual pace going forward.'
