Geri Halliwell stands by her man as scandal-hit husband Christian Horner insists he has ‘support’ off-track after F1 win
GERI Halliwell has been seen standing by her husband Christian Horner in Bahrain as the Red Bull Racing chief said he has “support” off-track.
The Spice Girl, 51, landed in Bahrain on Thursday night for the first race of the Formula One season despite the couple being rocked by his Red Bull sext scandal.
Despite the storm surrounding her marriage with scandal-hit Horner, Geri showed up at the Bahrain Grand Prix to watch her husband mastermind a dominant victory for world champion Max Verstappen.
They were seen before the race sharing an intimate kiss and then standing together afterwards as they watched the drivers take to the podium holding hands and hugging.
Pictures show the pop icon smiling as Horner holds her tight in an awkward looking embrace after the Red Bull chief achieved an impressive one-two victory with his team.
Before they walked through the busy F1 paddock holding hands as Horner did an interview.
They stood among the Red Bull Racing celebrations as an elated Horner faced the media over the teams “harmony” off track.
In a quick interview after the race, an elated Horner said: “We’re a very strong team, we’ve got tremendous support.
“You don’t achieve this type of support by not being supported.”
After being quizzed on what his future could look like after weeks of investigations and allegations, Horner made it clear he was set to remain at Red Bull.
A reporter asked if he was feeling confident about staying as the team’s principle for the coming season.
To which he replied: “Yes absolutely. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
The troubled couple stood stood next to a big Red Bull shareholder in Chalerm Yoovidhya and his wife as they celebrated the race result.
Yoovidhya is a Thai billionaire who co-owns the Red Bull cooperation after his father created the iconic energy drink.
Geri and Christian were first pictured earlier in the day before the season opener that saw utter Red Bull dominance with a routine Max Verstappen win.
Mobbed by photographers, the pair climbed the steps to the hospitality unit.
Geri and Horner were said to stay inside for a few minutes before speaking with guests outside on the patio area.
The couple then went back inside and were seen sitting together.
Pictures also showed the husband and wife sharing an intimate kiss moments before the opening race of the season.
The Spice Girl went for her signature white outfit, which she is known for wearing at F1 races.
It comes as
- Horner broke his silence after the string of shock texts to a female colleague were leaked
- Geri Halliwell’s marriage to Christian Horner is said to be “in question” following the sext leak
- The Spice Girl is said to have “felt like a fool” after Horner played down sexting claims
- Geri was “left humiliated” as she faces the “worst PR crisis of her career”
- A mole close to the Red Bull Racing camp allegedly detonated the Christian Horner sexting scandal in a bid to oust the F1 team boss
- The Red Bull Racing boss was cleared of sending improper texts to a female employee a day before the bombshell leak
- Formula One chief Mohammed Ben Sulayem broke his silence after his showdown with Christian Horner.
- Max Verstappen breaks silence on boss’ sext scandal and admits he’s “distracted”
- Verstappen wins Bahrain Grand Prix in style as Red Bull have perfect start to F1 season
After the shocking sexting claims, Geri was said to have “felt like a fool” for trusting her “prince charming” husband after he played down the messages.
The singer is now facing “the biggest decision of her life” as she is deciding what the next move in her marriage with Horner will be, her friends said.
She will most likely bunker down in the couple’s Cotswolds country home and make her decision behind closed doors, the Daily Mail reported.
Friends of the star reportedly stated it would “break her heart” to end things with Christian as she sees him as the man she’s waited for since she was a little girl.
An insider said: “She acts on impulse a lot. She has a temper on her, that’s for sure, and doesn’t Christian know it.
“But the question now that her inner circle is asking is whether Christian will be sent to the dog house for a few days or whether this is it for good.
A source close to the pop star – who was on a Bahrain-bound private jet when the messages emerged – told The Sun Horner tried to play down the scandal.
They said: “Geri is heartbroken and feels utterly humiliated. She trusted him when he tried to play down the scandal.
“He always told her he’d done nothing wrong. This will really hurt Geri, who has put everything into their marriage.”
“She worked hard for all of this, she jumped through hoops to get him, so will she dump him?”
It is understood Geri went “into meltdown” when she landed in Bahrain and discovered Horner’s sext leak.
Her concerned pals added she seemed “fragile” when they saw her a few weeks ago.
Earlier today, a smiling Christian Horner appeared to have shrugged off the latest scandal as he arrived alone at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Red Bull Racing chief was focused and ready to take on the 2024 Formula One season – one his team are expected to win.
But soon after, star driver Verstappen said the team principal is “probably a little bit distracted” as he faces more questions over his sext probe, Sky News reported.
He said: “It’s not our business.
“When I look at how Christian operates within the team, he has been an incredible team boss, so absolutely from the performance side of things, you can’t even question that.
“So that’s what I am also dealing with. I speak to Christian a lot, and also of course throughout the weekend here he is fully committed to the team.
Verstappen added: “He’s also here for the performance, of course probably a little bit distracted, but like I said before, we just focus on the performance things and that’s how we all work together.”
Horner said he “won’t comment on anonymous speculation” after material reported to have been part of Red Bull’s recent inquiry into him was leaked.
The racing chief previously refused to comment on the leaked WhatsApp sexts, which were sent anonymously to F1 bosses and media outlets on Thursday.
THE BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX
The first race of the year was a routine victory for Max Verstappen and Red Bull who also had Sergio Perez finish second.
Meaning Red Bull Racing – despite the turbulent few weeks – took maximum points and marched into a demanding lead in the constructors championship.
Reigning world champion Verstappen, 26, dazzled in the race finishing a staggering 22-seconds ahead of his teammate in second.
Leading every single lap after securing pole position on Friday.
Horner labelled the win “the perfect start” in his post-race interview.
Lewis Hamilton could only manage to grab seventh place as fellow British drivers George Russell and Lando Norris came home in fifth and sixth.
Ferrari‘s Carlos Sainz was the final man stepping up on the podium after beating teammate Charles Leclerc in fourth.
The next race is now less than a week away as the teams travel to Saudi Arabia for another Saturday night race.
How Christian Horner's shock texts were leaked
By Ben Hunt
IT was an anonymous email sent and designed for maximum impact.
It landed in my inbox almost 24 hours to the minute since Christian Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing following Red Bull’s internal investigation.
Other names included Liberty Media chief Greg Maffei, who owns the rights to F1. The FIA president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 CEO Stefano Dominacali.
The F1 team bosses were also included for good measure. As was Max Verstappen’s father, Jos.
It was from an anonymous sender, the title was simply the date – ‘Feb Twenty Nine’.
Inside it was a Google Drive link containing 79 files claiming to be the evidence from the independent investigation.
There is no way of knowing if they were real or fake yet irrespectively it sent another shockwave through the F1 paddock before this season had even started.
Horner was sitting on the team’s pitwall during second practice in Bahrain when the email dropped.
After the session, he walked out of the team’s garage and into the hospitality unit where he remained as the nuclear fallout began.
He’d survived the outcome of the internal investigation into improper conduct following a complaint from a female colleague.
One wonders whether he will survive this time after this very public humiliation – again, irrespective if they were indeed real or fake.
Just hours earlier, McLaren’s CEO Zak Brown and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, called on the sport’s governing body, the FIA, demanding transparency.
“I just read the statement, which was pretty basic,” said Wolff. “My personal opinion is we can’t really look behind the curtain.
“There is a lady in an organisation that has spoken to HR and said there was an issue and it was investigated and yesterday the sport has received the message that it’s all fine, we’ve looked at it.
“I believe with the aspiration as a global sport, on such critical topics, it needs more transparency and I wonder what the sport’s position is?
“We’re competitors, we’re a team and we can have our own personal opinions or not. But it’s more like a general reaction or action that we as a sport need to assess, what is right in that situation and what is wrong.
“Are we talking with the right moral approach, with the values based on the speculation that is out there? As a sport, we cannot afford to leave things vague and opaque on critical topics like this, because this is going to catch us out.”
Brown added: “It’s the responsibility ultimately of the organisers of Formula One, the owners of Formula One, to make sure that all the racing teams and the personnel and the drivers and everyone else involved in the sport are operating in a manner in which we all live by.
“I don’t think it’s the teams’ roles and responsibilities. That’s up to FIA and Formula One to ultimately decide and ask what they feel gives them the level of transparency they need to ultimately come to their conclusion and we just have to count on them that they fulfil that obligation to all of us.”
The emailed file will only increase that pressure in the form of scrutiny on Horner – who has always denied the accusations.
It does also put Red Bull in a tricky position.
Should the emailed file be legitimate and have made up elements from the initial report, which had been thoroughly examined and presented by the independent KC, then surely this is nothing new to them and their decision to stick with their team principal remains.
To perform a u-turn on that simply now they have become public would possibly see criticism that they intended to keep their report private to save face.
Whatever the outcome, it is a mess for the world champions.
Reports of a wedge driven between Horner and Verstappen’s father have grown in recent weeks.
So it was interesting that Jos Verstappen was in the paddock and wearing a team jacket and seemed unmoved to the chaos happening around him