Fiona Hewitson is a British motorsport professional who worked as executive assistant to Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner. She became the central, long-unnamed figure in the 2024 F1 scandal involving allegations of inappropriate behaviour against Horner, continued pressing the case through legal channels after two internal investigations cleared him, and in October 2025 accepted a reported £3 million settlement from Red Bull. She now works as executive assistant to Dan Towriss, CEO of Cadillac F1, and has been at races throughout the team’s first Formula 1 season in 2026.
Red Bull ran two independent investigations into those allegations. Both cleared Horner. Then Red Bull paid £3 million. Neither party offered a public explanation.
In June 2026, she is at Formula 1 races. Horner is not.
Table of Contents
Her Career at Red Bull Racing
Based in London, Hewitson managed Horner’s schedule, coordinated across departments, and supported his office directly as team principal. The role covered race weekend logistics, commercial coordination, and the full scope of running a senior executive’s day-to-day responsibilities inside a championship team. Red Bull Racing, under Horner, won six constructors’ championships and eight drivers’ titles.
Before the story broke in February 2024, she had one notable public appearance in the role. In April 2022, she featured as herself in Race to Miami: F1 Road Trip USA, a short promotional film tied to the inaugural Miami Grand Prix, alongside Red Bull driver Sergio Perez.
The Christian Horner Investigation
On 5 February 2024, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that a female Red Bull employee had filed a formal complaint against Horner with the team’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH. The Times reported the same day that the complaint concerned “inappropriate and controlling behaviour.” Red Bull GmbH launched an independent investigation through an external specialist barrister. Horner denied the allegations and remained in his role throughout.
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| 28 Feb 2024 | First investigation concludes: Horner cleared, grievance dismissed |
| 29 Feb 2024 | Anonymous Google Drive with 79 documents sent to 149 paddock members |
| 7 Mar 2024 | Hewitson suspended on full pay following Red Bull internal probe |
| 8 Aug 2024 | Appeal dismissed by a second independent KC; Horner cleared again |
The Google Drive arrived 24 hours after the first clearance. It went to FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali, all nine other team principals, Liberty Media, and dozens of journalists. Inside were 79 documents: WhatsApp screenshots, photographs, and exchanges where plans were kept from someone referred to as Geri, Horner’s wife Geri Halliwell. Fortune magazine reviewed the material and described some content as sexually suggestive. No outlet confirmed the documents were authentic. None produced evidence they were not.
Horner called it “anonymous speculation from unknown sources.”
Ford Motor Company, Red Bull’s incoming engine partner from 2026, separately wrote to Red Bull GmbH in February 2024 stating its values were “non-negotiable” and expressing frustration at the lack of resolution, according to The Independent.
When Netflix aired a new season of Drive to Survive in early 2025, it covered the scandal, putting the story in front of a considerably wider audience.
The Court Order, the Tribunal, and the Settlement
In April 2024, six weeks after her suspension, an English court granted a Reporting Restriction Order (RRO). The order was sought by Horner’s legal team, not hers. British journalists who had been covering the case since February were legally barred from reporting further developments. The restriction held for over a year.
Publications based outside England were not subject to it. Bild, the German newspaper, named Hewitson and published photographs of her at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in September 2025, in Cadillac F1 kit. British outlets could report on what Bild had published, but remained unable to independently cover the underlying case.
During that period, Hewitson continued through legal channels:
- She changed her legal representation
- She filed a complaint with the FIA Ethics Committee
- She filed a claim with the UK Employment Tribunal, which accepted the case and scheduled a hearing for January 2026
- She turned down Red Bull’s attempts at a private settlement
In March 2025, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko publicly confirmed the lawsuit and told reporters he hoped it would be resolved before the hearing date. A tribunal hearing, unlike an internal Red Bull investigation, places evidence and witness testimony on the public record.
The hearing did not take place. In October 2025, shortly after the Singapore Grand Prix, Daily Mail journalist Jonathan McEvoy reported that the former Red Bull employee had accepted a £3 million settlement in exchange for withdrawing her claims. Red Bull had been formally cleared twice. It settled when a public hearing was weeks away.
Her Role at Cadillac F1
Hewitson was first photographed in a Cadillac F1 context at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in September 2025, in team clothing alongside CEO Dan Towriss. She was also present at the Singapore Grand Prix in October 2025. By that point, her connection to the Red Bull case was widely known within the Formula 1 paddock.
Towriss is founder and CEO of Group 1001, a US financial services company managing over $66 billion in assets, and heads TWG Motorsports, the racing division of TWG Global, run by co-chairs Mark Walter and Thomas Tull. That group also holds controlling interests in the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chelsea FC.
Cadillac F1 entered the 2026 season as Formula 1’s 11th constructor, backed by General Motors and fielding Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez. It is the first new team on the grid in over a decade. Hewitson works as executive assistant to Towriss, the same support role she held at Red Bull, now in the team’s first season in the sport.
What Happened to Christian Horner?
Christian Horner was removed as Red Bull Racing team principal on 9 July 2025 and replaced by Laurent Mekies, formerly team principal at sister team Racing Bulls. Red Bull made no public connection between his removal and the Hewitson case. The decision came after a prolonged power struggle inside the team following the 2022 death of founder Dietrich Mateschitz, accelerated by the team’s declining results through the first half of 2025. Main shareholder Chalerm Yoovidhya, who had publicly backed Horner when the allegations first emerged in 2024, had withdrawn his support before the British Grand Prix.
BBC Sport confirmed, via a source close to Red Bull, that Horner received a severance payment of 60 million euros, approximately £52 million, covering the remainder of a contract running to 2030 at around £10 million per year.
He served a mandatory gardening leave period and has since been linked with roles at Alpine and Aston Martin. As of June 2026, no position in the sport has materialised.
She has given no interviews. She has issued no public statement. Her name became known through a German newspaper, not through any action she took. In June 2026, she is at Formula 1 races. Horner is not.
