Christian Horner was back in the Bahraini paddock this morning after salacious messages he allegedly sent a female employee came to light on Thursday afternoon.

The 50-year-old husband of former Spice Girl, Geri, vowed to fight on within hours of the scandal deepening.

But during practice on Friday, he left the pit wall to meet with the sport’s bosses.

After a night’s reflection, he is still clinging on at Red Bull, the team he has run for 19 years and led to 13 world championships, and intends to be on the pit wall for qualifying this afternoon ahead of Saturday’s opening grand prix of the season in the Gulf kingdom.

He is also fighting to save his nine-year marriage to Geri, who is said to ‘have had a total meltdown’ at the leak. Mail Sport exclusively revealed on Friday afternoon that his wife landed in Bahrain on Thursday evening in a private jet.

Hundreds of WhatsApp messages, many of a sexual nature, were sent to 149 of Formula One’s key figures, including all Horner’s fellow team principals, via an anonymous account. FIA president Mohammad ben Sulayem, who is due in the paddock today, was also among the recipients and it remains to be seen if the governing body will step into the controversy. They, and owners Formula One Management (FOM), are considering their next steps.

Christian Horner appeared in a relaxed mood on Friday morning, just hours after intimate messages that he allegedly sent to a female employee were leaked

He was seen chatting with his colleagues ahead of Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying later today

His marriage to former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell is believed to be ‘in question’ for the first time Pictured: Halliwell and Horner together at the Monaco Grand Prix last May

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The storm blew up after Horner had been cleared on Wednesday of ‘coercive behaviour’ by an internal inquiry conducted by Red Bull’s parent company in Salzburg.

An option open to the FIA is Article 12.2.1.c of the International Sporting Code, which applies to, ‘Any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally.’

There is also Article 12.2.1.f, which cites: ‘Any words, deeds or writings that have caused moral injury or loss to the FIA, its bodies, its members or its executive officers, and more generally on the interest of motor sport and on the values defended by the FIA.’

Also relevant, if Red Bull refused to co-operate with the FIA over the matter, or declined to hand over the Red Bull inquiry document, is Article 12.2.1.g. It states that ‘any failure to cooperate in an investigation’ will be deemed an offence.

Horner, speaking today to Sky on his way to the garage for third practice, said: ‘I am not going to comment on anonymous speculation from unknown sources.’

Asked what the next step was, he replied: ‘We go racing.’

He then disappeared into the garage to take his seat overlooking the start straight.

This morning Horner had been speaking to a senior FOM figure at the team’s hospitality area.

‘I will not comment on anonymous speculation,’ said Horner in his statement on Thursday after the email landed. ‘But to reiterate I have always denied the allegations.

‘I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and fully cooperated with it every step of the way.

‘It was a thorough and fair investigation conducted by an independent specialist barrister, and it has concluded dismissing the complaint made.

‘I remain fully focused on the start of the season.’

Horner also changed his WhatsApp avatar yesterday. It is no longer the image that appears on the alleged exchanges with the woman in question.

Horner’s wife, former Spice Girl Halliwell, had planned to fly out to the Grand Prix taking place in Bahrain this weekend to reunite publicly with Horner, but those close to the former popstar have said it is now ‘highly unlikely’ that she will join him.

Instead the mother-of-two has been left ‘feeling humiliated’ after the messages were spread ‘so widely out there’, a friend added.

Hundreds of intimate WhatsApp exchanges purportedly between Horner and the colleague were released via an anonymous email account.

Geri Halliwell and Christian Horner’s ‘marriage is now in question for the first time’ friends revealed to MailOnline last night. Pictured: The couple at their wedding in 2015

Friends close to the Spice Girl said she is ‘having the meltdown to all meltdowns over the leaks’

Horner and Halliwell in a holiday photograph taken on an unidentified beach over Christmas

READ ALSO: Christian Horner couldn’t do what Geri told him to. He struts around like the cock of the walk. Now this grubby text scandal has left a stain on F1, writes IAN HERBERT

Horner was only cleared by Red Bull’s Salzburg-based parent company – and told he could stay on as team principal of the world-championship on a £8million-a-year-salary – 24 hours before the texts dropped.

Halliwell had told friends that she was ‘relieved and elated’ that the claims against her partner, with whom she shares seven-year-old son Monty, had finally been dropped.

Friends of the ex-Spice Girl told the Mail she thought the scandal had ‘finally gone away’ but have warned the appearance of the intimate messages – to which there are 79 screenshots – could ‘destroy’ her.

One said: ‘All along Christian promised there was nothing in it.’

Another said he now fears for how the star, who has been left mortified at the embarrassing fall out, will be able to comprehend such a public humiliation.

He said: ‘Geri has been living in this happy, happy bubble for so many years now, she thought she had her prince and her knight in shining armour but now this.

‘She thought that it had all gone away, she was delighted and over the moon when she learned Christian had been cleared.

‘Geri was pilloried when she got together with Christian because he had just had another baby with another woman but she has worked hard to rid that image of herself and Christian, and in particular that she is a homewrecker.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner and Spice Girl Geri Halliwell pose after the F1 Grand Prix of Italy at Autodromo di Monza on September 7, 2014

The couple tied the knot at a star-studded ceremony at St Mary’s Church in Woburn in 2015

Miss Halliwell threw her husband Horner a surprise 50th birthday party in December last year

‘Now it has all come crashing down. The tears stopped when the judgment came in on Wednesday, now they absolutely will have started again.

HORNER PROBE TIMELINE

February 5 – Red Bull Racing’s parent company GmbH confirms Horner is under investigation following an accusation of ‘inappropriate behaviour’. The company says it ‘takes these matters extremely seriously and the investigation will be completed as soon as practically possible’.

February 9 – Horner is questioned by a lawyer for eight hours at a secret London location. There is no immediate resolution.

February 15 – Horner appears at Red Bull’s car launch – his first appearance in public since news of the allegations emerged. He vows to be in his role as Red Bull team principal for the first race of the season, and says: ‘For me, it is business as normal.’

February 18 – F1 makes its first public comment on the matter, calling for Horner’s future to be ‘clarified at the earliest opportunity’.

February 20 – Despite the ongoing investigation, Horner flies to Bahrain for three days of testing ahead of the new season.

February 21 – Horner takes his position on the Red Bull pit wall for the opening day of the test. Rival Mercedes boss Toto Wolff demands transparency from Red Bull’s investigation, and says the controversy is ‘an issue for all of Formula One’.

February 22 – Horner appears in a press conference alongside four other F1 team principals. He refuses to comment on the investigation, but says ‘everybody would like a conclusion as soon as possible’.

February 23 – Red Bull’s triple world champion Max Verstappen says ‘it will be nice for everyone’ when the investigation into Horner is concluded. Horner heads back to England following the conclusion of the test.

February 28 – Red Bull GmbH announces the ‘independent investigation into the allegations made against Mr Horner is complete and Red Bull can confirm that the grievance has been dismissed’, clearing Horner to remain in his position.

February 29 –  Text messages and photographs allegedly sent by Horner to a female employee are leaked, just hours after the Red Bull boss broke his silence on the investigation,

‘This will destroy her. All along Christian promised there was nothing in it.’

One source close to the star said that she ‘wasn’t sure what to believe’ throughout the saga but was determined to get through it with their marriage unscathed.

‘Geri is no fish wife but she finally got the man she wanted and she won’t want to let him go. This could end up being a big dilemma for her,’ the source said.

The tranche of messages were sent to FIA president Mohammad Ben Sulayem and F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali. All the team principals were copied in, along with star driver Max Verstappen’s father Jos.

Earlier this month Halliwell had briefly unfollowed world champion Verstappen on Instagram after the allegations against Horner first came to light. Sources close to the star said tonight that this was an ’emotional reaction’ which she thought would go unnoticed.

Reigning world champion Verstappen was quizzed ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix yesterday over whether Red Bull’s probe into Horner had impacted or altered the team’s preparations for the season.

The Dutchman, insisting that his focus has not been altered, replied: ‘It doesn’t. I’m very focused on just the performance of the car and myself.

‘Hopefully it will be resolved very soon. It’s a whole team effort that everyone has to stick together and work to more success, so that’s why it’s important to get everything resolved very soon.

‘(Horner) is very important otherwise he wouldn’t have been in that position for such a long time.’

The intense spotlight on Horner in recent weeks had already started to take a strain on the couple’s home life – which they split between their farmhouse, and stables, in Oxfordshire and a home in North London.

A source close to the pair said last night the last few weeks had been ‘hell for Christian and his family’ and he had always branded the claims as being ‘nuts’.

‘Geri is devastated and has been struggling to eat and sleep. Her family and fellow Spice Girls are worried about her,’ the source said last week ahead of Horner being cleared.

‘I hear Christian is trying to pep her up to stay positive, but she has gone to ground in the way she did after she left the Spice Girls. She’s not speaking to anyone.’

Shortly after the leak yesterday, Horner released a statement which read: ‘I will not comment on anonymous speculation, but to reiterate I have always denied the allegations.

‘I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and fully cooperated with it every step of the way.

‘It was a thorough and fair investigation conducted by an independent specialist barrister, and it has concluded dismissing the complaint made. I remain fully focused on the start of the season.’

The messages came a day after Horner was told he would be cleared of a Red Bull probe into his behaviour

Halliwell and Horner at the Larkhill Royal Artillery Point to Point in Wiltshire on January 27

The Spice Girls star said she is ‘really grateful’ to have Christian Horner as her ‘best friend’

Horner and Halliwell meet then-Prince Charles at a Prince’s Trust event in London in 2019

Announcing its conclusion on Wednesday, the company said: ‘The independent investigation into the allegations made against Mr Horner is complete, and Red Bull can confirm that the grievance has been dismissed.

The complainant has a right of appeal. Red Bull is confident that the investigation has been fair, rigorous and impartial.’

Halliwell and Horner mixed in social circles before they struck up a romance, having first met each other at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2009.

‘[Geri] was a guest of [former CEO of the Formula One Group] Bernie Ecclestone’s in Monaco one year and came down the pit lane,’ Horner previously told The Telegraph. ‘I remember [McLaren boss] Ron Dennis was standing next to me and Eddie Jordan was there as well.

‘She gave Ron a kiss on the cheek, and she gave Eddie a kiss on the cheek. So I thought, ‘OK, I’m on for a kiss on the cheek here!’ And I went to give her one and she shoved her hand out at me.’

Their relationship, however, got off to a rocky start, coming under fire after the Red Bull chief left his long-term partner Beverley Allen six months after she gave birth to their daughter Olivia.

While the couple took a short break to see if Horner could rescue his relationship with the mother of his child, just nine months later he announced his engagement to Ginger Spice in an advertisement in the The Times in 2014.

Christian Horner, pictured with Prince Harry before the Texas Grand Prix in October last year

Ginger Spice and Horner are pictured at the World Premiere of ‘The Moonwalkers’ last December

Christian and Geri’s relationship came under fire after the Formula One boss left his long-term partner Beverley Allen (pictured) six months after the birth of their daughter, Olivia

Halliwell and Horner attend the Gala Dinner for the F1 Grand Prix Of Monaco on May 28, 2023

It said: ‘The engagement is announced between Christian, son of Mr and Mrs G.M. Horner and Geraldine, daughter of the late Mr L.F. Halliwell and Mrs A Parkinson.’

The former Spice Girl and Red Bull boss tied the knot at St Mary’s Church in Woburn, Bedfordshire, in 2015.

Halliwell’s A-line lace bridal gown was designed by British designer Phillipa Lepley.

Her nine-year-old daughter, Bluebell, whom she had with screenwriter Sacha Gervasi in 2005, also attended the wedding.

Guests included Geri’s former Spice Girls co-star Emma Bunton, radio presenter and singer Myleene Klass, and TV presenter Amanda Holden.

Christian’s parents were reportedly left devastated when the sporting professional left Ms Allen to be with the chart-topping star and therefore chose not to see the duo tie the knot.

A source close to the couple previously said: ‘Geri and Christian are disappointed that his parents aren’t coming.’

Horner has headed Red Bull since he was a 31-year-old in 2005. He was then the youngest team principal on the grid, yet is now its longest-serving.