EXCLUSIVE: F1 champ reveals Red Bull damage of Horner allegations

Red Bull Racing's pre-season performances should be a cause for celebration for the reigning world champions, but the team may soon struggle in the development race, according to 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve.

With Ford publicly showing their frustration at the situation regarding the allegations around Christian Horner's behaviour, which he was cleared of by the team on Wednesday, Villeneuve believes the timing couldn't be worse.

Speaking exclusively with GPFans, the Canadian explained, "Everything is to be used as a strategy for every team in F1.

"The downfall of one is often how others then go through the summit. "We're not talking about a downfall now, but it's a critical moment that takes away from the focus of the first race coming.

"You lose a month or two months of work because of that. It's then tough to recuperate.

"You have to rely on how the car was in December right now. It's a lot of critical time lost when the focus should be purely on the car and nothing else."

READ MORE: Horner Red Bull investigation official VERDICT announced

Villeneuve: Bad timing for Red Bull

While there's no surprise that any internal investigation into a team principal is undesirable, Villeneuve clarified that it's far worse for Red Bull thanks to it being pre-season:

"Because of the timing... If that had happened in November or September, it would have had no effect.

"Nobody would have talked about it as much because we would have been in the middle of the season.

"The timing is incredible. If you're going to write a movie or a book, the timing of it is perfect."

Red Bull now face greater challenges

Villeneuve's comments followed compliments about Max Verstappen's two years of dominance but cautioned that the 'chaos' surrounding the Milton Keynes team will make continuing those winning ways more challenging.

"It would be difficult to better Verstappen," said Villeneuve. "Right now, it's hard to imagine him going faster and being on top form every race like he's doing now.

"I can't imagine a better Verstappen than what we've had the last two years. It's really difficult to imagine. What might make it more difficult is what's happening outside of racing right now with Red Bull.

"That could be detrimental for the team. There is chaos happening there and that will be detrimental for the team."

READ MORE: Journalist reveals Horner ‘messages’ LEAKED in anonymous email

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