GERI Halliwell was in the air on her way to Bahrain when hundreds of flirtatious messages allegedly sent by husband Christian Horner to an employee were leaked.
The Spice Girls star, 51, touched down in the Gulf kingdom amid reports that her marriage to the Red Bull Racing boss is now “in doubt”.
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Christian Horner looked at his mobile phone as he stood in his team’s garage during today’s training session in BahrainCredit: AP
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Horner spoke to Verstappen at the Bahrain International CircuitCredit: AP
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The defiant F1 boss joined his colleagues for a test driveCredit: AP
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He smiled as he worked as usual Credit: Splash
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Horner’s wife Geri pictured on the track in Bahrain last MarchCredit: AFP
Geri arrived in Bahrain from the UK on Thursday – leaving before the bombshell messages were shared, The Sun has learned.
But a defiant Horner looked nonchalant this afternoon as he stood trackside in Bahrain for a test drive ahead of tomorrow’s F1 season opener.
The dad, 50, was filmed with headphones around his neck as he chatted with Max Verstappen at the Bahrain International Circuit.
But he is understood to have left before the end of practice for a meeting with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, Sky F1 correspondent Ted Kravitz reported.
However, Geri has not yet been seen in the pen.
Earlier today, pictures showed F1 boss Horner talking to colleagues while sitting at a table with them.
Geri was left humiliated after a raft of intimate messages between her husband and a colleague were revealed just a day after he was cleared of wrongdoing.
Sources close to Geri say she was “relieved and elated” when the case against her Horner was dismissed on Wednesday.
Ginger Spice Geri endured three weeks of torture allegedly standing by her man after she was left in “floods of tears” when the scandal first broke.
Now the singer has been left “extremely humiliated” again less than 24 hours after she thought Horner, who she married in 2015, was clean.
Inside Christian Horner’s 4-week fight for his career from 8 hours of grilling to Geri Halliwell’s agony… and why the saga may continue
Geri’s friends fear the latest bombshell will “destroy” the mum-of-two, who shares seven-year-old son Monty with Horner.
A friend told the Mail: “It all came crashing down.
“The tears stopped when the verdict came on Wednesday, now they will absolutely start again. This will destroy her.
“Christian promised all along that there was nothing to it.”
Horner was also left upset after hundreds of WhatsApp messages were sent to F1 teams and media outlets.
The messages appeared to suggest that Horner had been harassing the woman for taking pictures behind her back.
It comes as…
Although the messages do not appear to contain explicit images, some texts are of a sexually suggestive nature.
The move is also calculated to do maximum damage to Red Bull Racing boss Horner’s career – just 24 hours before the start of the new Bahrain Grand Prix season.
After the messages were leaked yesterday, Horner again denied the allegations against him.
He said: “I will not comment on anonymous speculation, but to reiterate, I have always denied the allegations.
“I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and fully cooperated with it at every step.
“It was a thorough and fair investigation by an independent specialist solicitor and she concluded, dismissing the complaint that had been lodged.”
How Christian Horner’s shocking text was 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 an internal investigation by Red Bull.
Other names included Liberty Media boss Greg Maffei, which owns the rights to F1. FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 CEO Stefano Dominacali.
F1 team bosses were also included for good measure. Like Max Verstappen’s father, Jos.
It was from an anonymous sender, the title was just the date – ‘February twenty-ninth’.
In it was a link to a Google Drive with 79 files that claimed to be evidence from an independent investigation.
There’s no way of knowing whether they were real or fake, but regardless, it sent another shockwave through the F1 paddock before this season had even started.
Horner was sitting on the team during the second practice session in Bahrain when the email went down.
After the session, he walked out of the team garage and into the hospitality unit where he stayed as the nuclear fallout began.
He survived the outcome of an internal investigation into misconduct following a complaint from a female colleague.
He wonders if he will survive this public humiliation again – again, regardless of whether they were real or fake.
Just hours earlier, McLaren CEO Zak Brown and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff called the sport’s governing body, the FIA, demanding transparency.
“I just read the statement, which was pretty basic,” Wolff said. “My personal opinion is that we can’t really look behind the curtain.
“There is a lady in the organization who talked to HR and said that there is a problem and that it was investigated and yesterday the sport received a message that everything is fine, we have looked into it.
“I believe that with the aspiration to be a global sport, for such critical topics, it needs more transparency and I wonder what is the position of the sport?
“We are competitors, we are a team and we can have our personal opinion or not. But it is more like a general reaction or action that we as a sport need to evaluate, what is right in that situation and what is not.
“Are we talking with the right moral approach, with values based on the speculation that exists? As a sport, we can’t afford to leave things vague and opaque on critical topics like this, because this will catch us back.”
Brown added: “Ultimately it is the responsibility of the organizers of Formula 1, the owners of Formula 1, to make sure that all the racing teams and the staff and the drivers and everyone else involved in the sport work in a way that we all live by.
“I don’t think it’s about the roles and responsibilities of the teams. It’s up to the FIA and Formula 1 to finally decide and ask what they think gives them the level of transparency they need to ultimately come to a conclusion, and we just have to count on that fulfill that obligation to all of us.”
The emailed dossier will only add to that pressure in the form of scrutinizing Horner – who has always denied the allegations.
It also puts Red Bull in an awkward position.
If the emailed file is legitimate and contains elements from the initial report, which have been thoroughly examined and presented by an independent CC, then this is certainly nothing new to them and their decision to stay with their team leader stands.
The twist that simply now that they went public would likely see criticism that they intended to keep their report private to save face.
Regardless of the outcome, it’s a mess for the world champions. Reports of a conflict between Horner and Verstappen’s father have grown in recent weeks.
So it was interesting that Jos Verstappen was in the paddock wearing a team jacket and seemed indifferent to the chaos going on around him.
The messages seem to indicate a secret flirtatious conversation with a flight attendant, while other texts talk about a solo sex act in an airplane toilet.
The woman – who works with Horner at the all-time Grand Prix team’s headquarters in Milton Keynes – is apparently fed up with her boss’ requests for pictures and sexy chat, according to the WhatsApp file.
She asks him to stop – and even asks him how Dad would feel if Geri behaved the same way with some of her staff.
The texts also suggest that Horner apologized when he realized he had offended – and responded by asking the woman to delete her entire WhatsApp history.
The mega-leak appears to be consistent with the original charge he faced over alleged “sexually suggestive” messages sent by Horner.
It was later claimed that a lawyer-led investigation into the team boss was into “controlling and coercive” behavior towards the woman.
There is no suggestion that sexually explicit images are included in the leaked WhatApps so far.
A huge file of messages was sent yesterday to a list of team bosses and senior F1 figures that read like a Who’s Who of the F1 paddock.
Media sources sure to shed light on the scandal were also sent as a copy to an email entitled “Evidence of the Christian Horner Inquiry”.
Images of the same messages – some including Geri’s name – quickly began to spread on Xu – formerly known as Twitter.
Horner landed in Bahrain on Wednesday night minutes before Red Bull confirmed he would remain in charge of the team.
It remained unclear whether Geri was shown any of the messages before they were distributed.
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Horner photographed with wife Geri Halliwell last yearCredit: Getty
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Christian Horner pictured earlier today before training at the track Credit: PA
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The team boss talks to colleagues at the Bahrain International CircuitCredit: PA
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The embattled F1 boss crossed his arms as he sat with his teammates Credit: PA
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F1 boss in final testing in Bahrain ahead of tomorrow’s F1 season opener Credit: PA
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Horner was seen hugging Verstappen in BahrainCredit: Getty
A look at the life and career of Christian Horner
CHRISTIAN Horner is one of the most famous names in Formula 1 because he helped build Red Bull into one of the biggest teams in the sport.
1973 – Born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
1991 – wins a Formula Renault scholarship after impressing in karting races
1993-1997 – Competed in a range of competitions including British Formula Three, British Formula Two and Formula 3000
1997 – Founded and developed F3000 team Arden
1999 – Retired from driving and continued to develop the Arden team
2005 – Appointed Red Bull team boss, becoming the youngest team manager at the time
2009 – Wins his first races as team principal with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber
2010 – wins Constructors’ Championship and Drivers’ Championship with Vettel – the first of four consecutive two-seaters
2013 – Has a daughter with ex-wife Beverly Allen shortly before the couple split
2014 – Gets engaged to Spice Girls member Geri Halliwell
2015 – Marries Halliwell in Woburn, Bedfordshire
2017 – Horner and Halliwell welcome their son
2021 – Wins another Drivers’ Championship with Max Verstappen, beating Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the season
2022-23 – Red Bull wins the Drivers’ Championship and the Constructors’ Championship two years in a row
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Source: HIS Education