Christian Horner insists he has full assist of spouse Geri Halliwell

A bruised however unbowed Christian Horner insisted on Thursday he has the complete assist of former Spice Girl spouse, Geri, following accusations of ‘controlling behaviour’ made by a feminine colleague.

He additionally acknowledged that he’ll nonetheless be Red Bull staff principal when the Formula One season opens in Bahrain on March 2.

Among probably the most profitable figures within the sport’s historical past, the 50-year-old Englishman performed a sequence of media interviews on the staff’s automobile launch in Milton Keynes, amid the largest disaster of his profession. He categorically denies the claims.

Speaking for the primary time because the story broke final week, he talked of ‘enterprise as standard’. It isn’t fairly so, in fact. This controversy is overshadowing preparations for Red Bull’s upcoming title defence. Yet Horner, no matter else is occurring, exhibited bravery in sticking to his deliberate media engagements (although how wouldn’t it have seemed had he ducked his duties?).

Truth be instructed, Horner was a little bit ashen, and never his standard jocular self. He would usually have made just a few jokes on launch days like these. He might need commented on somebody’s sneakers or landed a playful dig within the ribs. Yet, whereas he was not in in the slightest degree jokey throughout his lunchtime engagements, he refused to be written off.

Ahead of testing in Bahrain subsequent week, as a precursor to the primary race within the Gulf kingdom, he mentioned: ‘I’ve a really supportive household and a really supportive spouse.

‘My focus has been on the job and the season forward.’

Asked if he could be in Bahrain, he mentioned: ‘Yes.’

There isn’t any timescale for the completion of the inquiry into his alleged behaviour, a course of being carried out by an exterior lawyer, an English KC, whose identify has not been divulged. Horner argued his defence to him for eight hours final Friday.

In credit score to Red Bull, they held their launch in-person. Ferrari, in distinction, put theirs on Zoom. They additionally did not make a advantage of the exhilarating information that they’ve signed Lewis Hamilton for 2025. 

Questions had been censored and swerved. Signing the seven-time world champion was trigger to shout from the rooftops. And Mercedes, even worse, performed an anaemic digital launch lasting 9 minutes.

Though Horner confirmed up, the to-and-fro of proof between accuser and accused means he’s suggested to not speak in regards to the intricacies of all of it for now. 

However, he mentioned: ‘There’s been a day job to be getting on with. I really feel the assist inside the enterprise and our companions, and inside the business. It is overwhelming.

‘There’s a course of that is ongoing in the meanwhile. Some allegations have been made, which I absolutely deny and I’ve absolutely complied with that course of and can proceed to take action till it is handled.

‘Moments of uncertainty deliver us collectively and I’ve by no means seen a staff extra collectively and supporting than it’s.

‘Everybody’s centered on one factor, which is the efficiency of that automobile to exit and defend each the world titles that we have labored so onerous to attain over the past couple of years.

‘So the automobile is what all people is invested in and I look ahead to seeing it in motion in Bahrain subsequent week.

‘I’m completely dedicated to this staff. I’ve been right here because the starting. I’ve constructed this staff. There have been highs and lows alongside the way in which.

‘We have received 113 races. Won seven drivers’ world championships. We’ve received six constructors’ world championships. All in 19 seasons and that is within the historical past books.

‘But it is what lies forward that is necessary. So my focus is on the long run. It is on Red Bull powertrains changing into a start-up engine enterprise. We have a complicated know-how enterprise system producing the primary ever Red Bull monitor automobile. There’s loads occurring on the campus.

‘I’ve been again to again within the workplace doing my job.’

Several key Red Bull figures had been in Milton Keynes – house to 1500 workers – for the launch, together with these from the power drink firm’s HQ in Salzburg, together with managing director Oliver Mintzlaff, former chief government of soccer membership RB Leipzig.

He and Horner spoke for just a few moments. Mintzlaff additionally talked briefly to Max Verstappen, Horner’s star driver who mentioned relations along with his staff principal had been ‘like regular’.

There is a few sense in strategies there’s a transfer in Salzburg to clip Horner’s wings, a plot that has the Austrian contingent going up in opposition to Chalerm Yoovidhya, the Thai billionaire-heir to the corporate (who was not in Milton Keynes on Thursday, however is considered a Horner backer).

Whatever the inquiry into Horner will reveal, F1 has a propensity for backbiting viciousness that makes scheming Tory backbenchers seem like Anchorite monks. But, for now no less than, Horner is refusing to be deposed.