Christian Horner praised his wife, former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, for her support amid the fallout from an investigation into his alleged inappropriate behavior toward a female Red Bull employee.
“It’s obviously been a very trying period,” the team principal, 50, said during a press conference ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah on Thursday.
“It has been of great interest in different elements of the media for different reasons, [but] I think it’s time to draw a line under it,” he went on, calling for an end to the “scrutiny” placed on his marriage.
The couple put on a united front at the Formula 1 season opener in Bahrain last weekend, just days after an independent inquiry cleared Horner of any misconduct.
However, an explosive email containing private WhatsApp messages purporting to be between Horner and his accuser were subsequently sent to nearly 200 high-level F1 executives and journalists.
“I’m very fortunate that I have a beautiful family and a very supportive wife. And I’m the only one who has been named in this,” Horner said on Thursday, noting that his three children also had been dragged into the scandal.
“My wife has been phenomenally supportive through this, as has my family, but the intrusion on my family is now enough, and we need to move forward and focus on what we are here for,” the long-tenured team boss added.
“It is time now to focus on why we are here, which is to go Formula 1 racing.”
Horner and Halliwell, 51, tied the knot in 2015 and are parents to 7-year-old son Monty. They also share daughter Bluebell, 17, from the singer’s relationship with Sacha Gervasi and daughter Olivia, 10, from the former driver’s first marriage to Beverley Allen.
His comments came a few hours after multiple outlets confirmed the unidentified woman who had accused him of inappropriate behavior has been suspended with full pay from her job at the team’s UK headquarters in Milton Keynes.
Insiders told the Times of London that her suspension was related to the findings of the inquiry.
Horner, for his part, was never suspended from his role during the lengthy investigation undertaken by the team’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH.
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Despite calls for transparency from other senior figures in the sport, including Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and McLaren CEO Zak Brown, most drivers have shied away from publicly discussing the scandal.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, however, described the highly-publicized investigation as a “pivotal moment” for Formula 1.
“It’s a really, really important time for the sport to show and stick to its values, hold ourselves accountable for our actions, and it’s a really, really pivotal moment for the sport in terms of what we project to the world and how it’s handled,” Hamilton said during a press conference on Wednesday.
“As someone who loves the sport, it’s definitely disappointing to see what’s going on right now. It doesn’t look good to the outside world,” he added.
“Transparency is really key. And I’m really, really hoping to see some progress moving forwards.”
Source: NewsFinale
