Christian Horner’s sext leak happened while wife Geri was in mid-air on her way to be by husband’s side in Bahrain

GERI Halliwell was mid-air en route to Bahrain when hundreds of flirty messages husband Christian Horner sent to a female employee were leaked, it is understood.

The Spice Girls star was flying to be by her Red Bull Racing chief husband’s side after she was left “relieved and elated” he had been cleared of wrongdoing.

But The Sun understands Geri, 51, had already taken off from the UK when hundreds of private WhatsApp messages were sent to F1 teams and media outlets.

Friends of the couple now claim their marriage is “in question” as Geri reels from the latest bombshell.

Defiant Horner was today seen trackside in Bahrain for a test run ahead of tomorrow’s F1 season opener before being pulled for a meeting with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

Geri has not yet been seen in the paddock, however.

The singer, who married Horner in 2015, was said to be “in floods of tears” when news of the investigation first emerged almost a month ago.

Geri privately insisted he did nothing wrong, however.

The Sun reported how Geri was being supported by her Spice Girl bandmates.

More than a week after the probe was launched, she was pictured with Horner for a day at the races at Badbury Rings, Dorset.

But later reports said the star was “mortified and angry” over the probe.

Sources close to the singer said she was “relieved and elated” when the case against her Horner was thrown out on Wednesday.

But after a trove of flirty texts was leaked, their marriage is now said to be “in question”.

Friends of Geri fear the latest bombshell will “destroy” the mum-of-two, who shares seven-year-old son Monty with Horner.

One pal told the Mail: “It has all come crashing down.

“The tears stopped when the judgment came in on Wednesday, now they absolutely will have started again. This will destroy her.

“All along Christian promised there was nothing in it.”

It comes as…

A trove of flirty private messages exchanged between Horner and a female colleague were sent to F1 teams and media outlets on Thursday as Geri flew from the UK to Bahrain.

Messages appeared to suggest Horner pestered the woman for pictures behind his wife’s back.

While there don’t appear to be any explicit images in the messages, some of the texts are sexually suggestive in nature.

The move was also calculated to cause maximum damage to Red Bull Racing boss Horner’s career – just 24 hours before the start of the new Grand Prix season in Bahrain.

After the messages were leaked yesterday, Horner again denied accusations made against him.

He said: “I won’t 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 every step of the way.

“It was a thorough and fair investigation conducted by an independent specialist barrister and it has concluded, dismissing the complaint made.”

The woman – who works with Horner at the all-conquering grand prix team’s Milton Keynes HQ – apparently tired of her boss’s pleas for pictures and sexy chat, according to the WhatsApp dossier.

She asks him to stop – and even asks how the dad would feel if Geri was behaving in the same way with one of her staff.

Texts also suggest Horner became apologetic as he realised he had caused offence – and responded by asking the woman to delete their entire WhatsApp history.

The mega-leak appeared to be in line with the original accusation faced over alleged “sexually suggestive “ messages sent by Horner.

There is no suggestion that any pictures featuring sexual content are included in the WhatApps leaked so far.

Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk