Christian Horner has heaped praise on his wife Geri Halliwell after the Red Bull chief was cleared of inappropriate behaviour towards a female colleague earlier this year. The 51-year-old, who denied all the charges, was accused of controlling behaviour and was ultimately cleared to remain as Red Bull team principal after an appeal against him was dismissed.
Horner and his wife shared a kiss at the Bahrain Grand Prix in March after the accusations had come to light.
The couple then cuddled up during the podium celebrations in Saudi Arabia a week later, with the former Spice Girl supporting her husband at other races across the season.
And discussing the support of his partner, Horner explained during an interview with the Daily Mail: “What happened at the start of the year felt like a perfect storm.
“In life, it is a great lesson that the more success you have, the more of a target you become. Anything that can be used to unsettle and destabilise you and the team and the business.
“What disappointed me more than anything was the steps that people went to in order to try and achieve that.
“You just stay true to yourself and I am very fortunate that I have got a tremendous family. My wife has been unbelievable, fantastic.
“Your partner is always the one you share your difficulties with. She has been absolutely outstanding and hugely supportive.
“She saw through a lot of things from having an outside perspective and it is good to have that weight and measure.
“It is hugely important. You learn about yourselves in times of difficulty and I was absolutely determined that we would navigate through the difficult waters.”
And discussing the process that led to him being cleared, Horner added: “I never felt I might have to walk away [from Red Bull]. I believed in myself, I believed in the process.
“I trusted in the process that was scrupulously applied by the company and I just had to trust to that. When I was on the plane to Bahrain, I didn’t know whether I was going to be at the race or not.
“But I had to believe in the process. I have had tremendous support and backing from the shareholders and from within the company.
“It was actually quite emotional before the first race when I addressed the factory. I do the usual summary of the testing and what the objectives are going into the season and it was absolutely rammed.
“The support that the team gave me and the reception the team gave me, I will never ever forget that.”
