Christian Horner is requesting that the “intrusion” into his family comes to a halt as the Formula 1 Red Bull Racing boss remains in the crosshairs of a sexting scandal.
Droves of messages allegedly sent from Horner to a female employee were leaked hours after he was cleared in an investigation into workplace misconduct last week by Red Bull’s parent company.
Horner and his wife, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, have three children together, and the Red Bull racing principal held a press conference on Thursday urging the media to leave his family alone.
“Obviously it’s been a very trying period,” Horner said. “I’m married and have three children, and when that intrusion involves your children, and your marriage – and I’m very thankful I have a beautiful family and a very supportive wife,” Horner said, as covered by the Irish outlet Independent.
“I’m the only one who has been named in this. So of course, it’s very trying. When there’s children involved, family, parents… it’s not pretty.”
Multiple outlets reported on Thursday that the woman who was exchanging messages with Horner was suspended by Red Bull Racing due to findings from the investigation.
Horner has maintained his innocence throughout the process.
“The reality is there was a grievance that was raised, it was dealt with in the most professional manner by the group, not Red Bull Racing but the parent company, they appointed one of the top barristers in the land. He looked at everything. He looked at all the facts and he looked at the case and dismissed the grievance,” Horner said.
“As far as I’m concerned, as my wife has been phenomenally supportive throughout this. But the intrusion on my family is now enough. We need to move forward.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has won three consecutive F1 championships and has become so dominant that you have to bet about $900 to win $100 on him to win any given race.
In his press conference, Horner accused opponents of trying to leverage media leaks about his alleged behavior for their own competitive advantage.
“The only reason it has gained so much attention is because of the leakage in the media. And that’s been trying, particularly for my family because it’s all been focused in one direction. And what has happened after that is other people have taken advantage of it. What has then happened is that others have looked to benefit from it, and that’s maybe not the pretty side of our sport,” Horner said.
Verstappen’s father, Jos, a former F1 driver himself, expressed concern that the Red Bull team would “explode” if Horner were not removed from his role.
In his press conference, Horner tried to be diplomatic with regards to his star racer’s father and said the two spoke after Verstappen won the Bahrain Grand Prix last week.
“I spoke to Jos following the grand prix and obviously congratulated him on his son’s performance, and I think it’s in everyone’s interest that we’ve agreed to focus on the future,” he said.
“We have a vested interest together to do the best for his son. Hopefully we can continue to provide him with a very competitive car.”
