A DEFIANT Christian Horner hit back at claims surrounding his bombshell sexting scandal – insisting it’s time to “draw a line under it.”
Speaking at a press conference in Saudi Arabia, the F1 chief said it’s time to “focus on what is going on on track.”
He said: “Obviously there has been a lot of coverage surrounding this, but one has to go back to the basis of a grievance was raised, it was fully investigated, and it was dismissed.
“From there we move onwards. “
The Red Bull boss added: “I think the time now is to look forward and draw a line under it.
“We are here to go racing, we are here as a Formula 1 team, and the time now is to focus on what is going on on track and the performance of the cars and the drivers, where the spotlight should be during the course of a Grand Prix weekend.”
READ MORE ON HORNER
Horner’s statement comes right after it emerged his accuser has been suspended from Red Bull Racing HQ.
It comes following the bombshell leak of hundreds of “sexually suggestive” messages by the 50-year-old team boss.
Allegations of inappropriate behaviour against Horner were dismissed by a barrister-led probe.
A source told The Sun today: “It became obvious that the situation could not continue and it was decided to suspend her on full pay while internal inquiries continue.”
Most read in Motorsport
When asked about the suspension of the staffer, Horner replied: “I’m afraid I can’t comment on anything confidential between an employee and a company so I can’t comment on that.”
Horner went on saying the row had been “very hard” on his family , adding: “It is time now to focus on why we are here which is to go Formula One racing.”
Ginger Spice Geri Halliwell, 51, has been left heartbroken by the scandal, which erupted when a raft of embarrassing messages were released online on the eve of the F1 season opener.
The pop icon put on a toe-curling show of unity at last week’s Bahrain Grand Prix in which Red Bull pulled off a perfect 1-2 triumph led by world champ Max Verstappen.
Geri wanted her husband to cut all contact with his unidentified accuser – but he found it impossible to comply as they remained in regular contact at work.
While Geri will be pleased with the outcome, there’s no suggestion her demand that she be taken “out of the picture” is what led to the suspension.
She is now reportedly expected to join Christian in Jeddah this weekend ahead of the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix on Saturday.
It comes after the staffer, who is understood to have shown up for work at the team’s HQ in Milton Keynes, Bucks, was suspended on full pay.
Insiders said she had demanded to continue working at Red Bull – while Geri wanted her husband to cut all contact with the employee.
And she has instructed lawyers “at every turn” as Horner attempted to detach himself from her professionally and personally, The Sun was told today.
The source added: “Whenever she thought she was being sidelined her lawyers stepped in immediately.
“Something had to give and now she’s been suspended.”
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
The ongoing saga dogging Red Bull has been complicated by behind-the-scenes clashes between star driver Verstappen’s father Jos, 51, and Horner.
Insiders said Jos had become close to the woman – but he has strenuously denied being the text leaker while warning Horner’s team will “explode” if he is not ousted.
Red Bull Racing said today: “The company cannot comment on this internal matter.”
Horner, 50, was seen in the Saudi Arabia paddock today for practice ahead of the next race without Geri by his side.
Geri was mid-air on her way to Bahrain after her husband was cleared when the texts were published widely online via an anonymous email drop.
She was apparently “relieved and elated” after the complaint was initially thrown out, but later left “stunned” by the leaked messages.
Halliwell and Horner have been married since 2015 and share a son.
Tensions inside the Red Bull team are mounting after Jos warned the camp could “explode” if Horner stays in his £8million-a-year role.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
The two men were seen locked in what looked like a fiery argument during the F1 season opener — in which Red Bull stormed to first and second places thanks to Max and team-mate Sergio Perez.
Sky Sports footage showed Horner and Jos apparently arguing, following reports they have previously clashed in a rift that has lasted for months.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
