CHRISTIAN HORNER gave a defiant response to questions over his Red Bull future following a dominant win at the Bahrain GP.
The team principal is caught up in an alleged “sexting” scandal after being cleared of misconduct by an internal probe.
The 50-year-old was allowed to lead Red Bull into the new F1 season that begun today.
Max Verstappen cruised to victory as he continued his dominance from last year, with team-mate Sergio Perez second.
Afterwards, Horner was asked: “Are you confident you have the full backing of everybody above you and you’ll be leading this team in Jeddah next weekend?”
He replied: “Yeah, absolutely – I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
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Horner also added: “You don’t achieve this kind of result by not being united.”
He continued: “Testimony to the hard work behind-the-scenes – maximum points today.
“It’s an aggressive evolution. The design team has done a wonderful job, they’ve pushed hard, you can see there’s innovative ideas. It’s a strong evolution.
“It’s a great start, it’s not a one off.
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“We’re going to have to see four or five races before we see a true pattern.
“You can’t base too much on this one race.
“It was a great performance by Max and the perfect start to the season.
“He’s got to keep performing like he did today.
“He made a couple good passes and drove a strong race. A one-two finish is the optimal.
“We have got a tremendous support, tremendous partners and great shareholders behind us as well.”
The win put a smile on Horner’s face after a week of intense scrutiny.
He appeared in Bahrain alongside his wife Geri Halliwell and they shared a kiss in the paddock.
Prior to the race, Horner was also seen pacing around the paddock and hospitality area at the circuit, stopping to check his phone and sign autographs for children.
Meanwhile, Geri has been left “heartbroken and humiliated” after sexts sent by her hubby to a female employee were leaked.
The Spice Girl, 51, touched down in Bahrain on Thursday night just as the bombshell messages began to spread around the globe.
Geri reportedly refused to see her husband after his sext leak but was talked into it by his family.
Some of the messages were reported, including a request for a “Santa PJ selfie”.
He also regularly joked about Spanx, telling the woman she looks “attractive” in them.
In another, Horner starts by asking if he can make a “confession”.
He then describes a trip on a private jet to Dubai where he claims that the woman got him “out of control”.
The Sun learned that Geri knew of the female employee at the centre of the texting scandal.
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A Red Bull insider said she even approved of the woman working in Horner’s team.
It comes after 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 Sun revealed.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
