NEWLY released pictures show embattled Red Bull Racing chief Christian Horner enjoying time at home with wife Geri Halliwell.
Netflix cameras captured the couple celebrating Christmas for the new season of Drive to Survive – before accusations of “inappropriate behaviour” were made against the F1 boss.
Horner’s future of running the all-conquering team of world champion Verstappen has been thrown into doubt following the bombshell claims.
The Red Bull Racing boss, 50, has vehemently denied all claims threatening his position.
Horner was initially only under investigation over alleged controlling behaviour at work towards a female worker.
But in recent days, fresh claims allege Horner also sent her “sexually suggestive” texts.
More on Christian Horner
For Netflix’s latest season of Drive to Survive, cameras went into Horner and Spice Girl Geri’s dream mansion in Oxfordshire in December 2022.
The pair, who wed in 2015, can be seen relaxing in the festively decorated lounge in a preview of the show.
Father Christmas then makes an appearance, asking their children Monty and Olivia if their dad “had been good this year”.
Olivia replies: “Let me think about that for a minute.”
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Geri then points out he had “won a championship” with Red Bull that year.
In another scene, Horner can be seen chatting to Geri about Daniel Ricciardo after the driver failed to land a grid seat for 2023.
The cameras also follow Horner off the race track to Red Bull Racing’s annual charity shoot, which he hosted.
Filming was completed for the season, which premiers tomorrow, well before allegations against Horner were this month revealed – sparking a probe by Red Bull.
Geri, 51, was reduced to tears as news broke of the scandal but has privately insisted he did nothing wrong.
Horner publicly addressed the allegations against him for the first time at the launch of the RB20 last week.
He said: “Inevitably there has been a distraction, but the team are very together.
“Everybody’s focused on the season ahead, so it’s been very much business as normal and the support has been fantastic.
“In situations like these, you see where the strengths are, and it’s been overwhelming the support that I’ve had from within the team.
The bombshell claims that have rocked F1
F1 was rocked earlier this month by the sudden news that the sport’s longest-standing team principal had been placed under investigation by Red Bull’s Austria-based parent company.
This was thought to be over a “dossier of incriminating material” regarding “inappropriate and controlling behaviour” towards one female, The Telegraph reported.
Red Bull’s Austrian parent company flew an independent lawyer to the UK to question the multi-millionaire race ace and his accuser.
The former racing driver, who runs world champion Max Verstappen’s all-conquering Red Bull team, endured an eight-hour grilling over the claims last week.
Most recently however, more allegations have come out as the De Telegraaf reported that Horner allegedly sent sex messages to his employee “over an extended period of time”.
Messages were said to have been saved and presented as evidence to the external barrister running the inquiry after the woman made a complaint last December.
Mr Horner categorically denied the new allegations and is thought to be taking legal action against De Telegraaf.
An F1 source told The Sun last week that “Christian has not been sacked or asked to resign and he is not going to resign”.
The investigation raises the question of who could take over the helm of the all-conquering racing team of world champion Max Verstappen.
His wife Geri Halliwell is also said to be “terrified her life will unravel” amid Horner’s “inappropriate behaviour” probe.
The ex-Spice Girl, who was “in floods of tears” when the Red Bull boss was hit with the bombshell allegations, fears the drama will drag on for years, a source has claimed.
But Geri, 51, is understood to be standing by her husband.
She has told pals: “Christian has done nothing wrong.”
Horner has overseen a huge period of success for the racing team – winning multiple F1 championships with Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen.
Red Bull has won seven Formula One world drivers’ championships and six world constructors’ titles under Horner’s leadership.
Last season, the team won 21 of the 22 races on the global F1 tour, and Verstappen, 26, won the drivers’ crown.
Horner was awarded a CBE for services to motorsport in the 2024 New Year’s Honours List.
“There have been some allegations made, which I fully deny, so that the investigation is very much going on in the background whilst preparing for the season ahead, and hopefully it will be concluded in the near future.”
Ford were said to have put pressure on their future partners at Red Bull Racing to investigate the outcome “seriously but quickly”.
Reports say this could mean Horner could find out his fate much sooner than originally expected.
Horner had hoped the investigation would be resolved before the team this week flew to Bahrain for pre-season testing.
He was yesterday pictured looking carefree as he smiled and chatted with his team in the Middle East country.
Horner arrived in the Gulf kingdom overnight on Wednesday to watch star driver Max Verstappen test the RB20 for the first time on an F1 track.
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He is also expected to attend a press conference at the testing event alongside other F1 bosses.
Christian Horner’s life and career
CHRISTIAN Horner is among the most well-known names in Formula One having 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 host of competitions including British Formula Three, British Formula Two, and Formula 3000
1997 – Founded and developed the F3000 team Arden
1999 – Retired from driving and continued developing the Arden team
2005 – Appointed head of Red Bull team, becoming the youngest ever team principal at that time
2009 – Wins his first races as team principal with Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber
2010 – Wins the Constructors’ Championship and Drivers’ Championship with Vettel – the first of four doubles in a row
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, pipping Lewis Hamilton on the final lap of the season
2022-23 – Red Bull win the Drivers’ Championship and Constructors’ Championship two years in a row
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
