Christian Horner – latest: Jos Verstappen takes aim at Red Bull team principal

Max Verstappen delivered for Christian Horner’s crisis-hit Red Bull team by winning the opening race of the Formula One season in Bahrain on Saturday.

The build-up to the first round of the campaign here in the Gulf Kingdom has totally been overshadowed by allegations whirling around Red Bull team principal Horner.

But Horner, who was joined by his wife Geri in a show of unity ahead of Saturday’s 57-lap race, can take temporary relief from seeing Verstappen lead a Red Bull one-two, with Sergio Perez second.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has urged Formula One and its governing body to “set the compass right” amid continued controversy surrounding Christian Horner.

Horner was earlier this week cleared to continue as Red Bull team principal following an internal probe into “inappropriate behaviour” towards a female colleague.

But the 50-year-old faced subsequent scrutiny after a series of leaked WhatsApp messages – appearing to be exchanged between him and his complainant – were leaked to all the major players in the sport.

Max Verstappen delivered for Christian Horner’s crisis-hit Red Bull team by winning the opening race of the Formula One season in Bahrain on Saturday.

The build-up to the first round of the campaign here in the Gulf Kingdom has totally been overshadowed by allegations whirling around Red Bull team principal Horner.

But Horner, who was joined by his wife Geri in a show of unity ahead of Saturday’s 57-lap race, can take temporary relief from seeing Verstappen lead a Red Bull one-two, with Sergio Perez second.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz took the chequered flag in third, one place ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc with George Russell and Lewis Hamilton a disappointing fifth and seventh respectively for Mercedes. McLaren’s Lando Norris finished sixth.

Christian Horner and his wife Geri Halliwell walked into the Bahrain Grand Prix paddock hand-in-hand on Saturday in a public show of unity after the Red Bull Formula One team boss was cleared of allegations of misconduct towards a female employee.

The 50-year-old Horner and former Spice Girls singer Halliwell looked poised as they made their way to Red Bull’s hospitality area, where they mingled with VIP guests in full view of photographers and television cameras.

Their appearance together at the season-opening race came after F1 media and key paddock figures received on Thursday an anonymous email containing a Google Drive link to purported evidence submitted to the investigation.

The president of Formula 1’s governing body told the Financial Times the controversy around Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is damaging the sport, but that the FIA won’t conduct its own inquiry unless it receives a complaint.

Ahead of Saturday’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Mohammed Ben Sulayem said any complaint lodged with its compliance officer would be investigated but it had not received one related to Horner’s situation and would not “jump the gun,” the newspaper reported.

“It’s damaging the sport,” Ben Sulayem told the newspaper, which added that he was speaking Friday after a meeting with Horner. “This is damaging on a human level.”

On Wednesday, the team’s parent company dismissed a complaint of alleged misconduct by Horner toward a team employee. A day later during practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix, a file alleged to contain evidence against Horner was emailed to nearly 200 people in the F1 paddock, including Liberty Media, F1, the FIA, the other nine team principals and multiple media outlets.

The authenticity of the files has not been verified by The Associated Press; the file came from a generic email account. Horner has denied wrongdoing and said in a statement issued Thursday that he would not “comment on anonymous speculation.”

Three-time defending champion Max Verstappen said after qualifying on pole position Friday that Horner was “fully committed to the team” but that his team principal was also “probably a little bit distracted.”

Damon Hill said to Sky Sports: “In some ways the team manager’s job at a race meeting is to deal with crises, so in effect he’s got his own crises and the indications are that it’s also unsettled something in the team regarding his role in the team which is obviously something that will affect their long-term performance.

“They don’t want that, they want to keep the ship steady, especially as they’ve had so much success.

“From a driver’s point of view and a team point of view and an engineer’s point of view, they can just get on with their jobs.

“Normally they come to Christian (Horner) if there is something they have to argue over with the stewards or the organisers, of course he will be able to do that, and he will still do that but it will be a massive distraction.”

Just hours after the Red Bull boss was officially cleared of ‘inappropriate behaviour’, a series of ‘sexually suggestive’ WhatsApp messages and pictures, allegedly sent by Horner, were leaked – and it’s very mucky indeed for a sport beset with issues, writes long-term motor racing fan Gemma Abbott.

The Red Bull team principal was cleared of “inappropriate behaviour” on Wednesday after a three-week internal probe conducted by an external lawyer, following allegations from a female colleague which were strongly refuted by Horner, before WhatsApp texts allegedly between the two parties – some sexually suggestive – were leaked to the media 24 hours later.

Yet Horner has been present in the paddock in Bahrain throughout the race weekend, including Saturday as Max Verstappen eased to a first win of the season, and the 50-year-old accompanied his Spice Girl pop star wife Geri as she entered the Bahrain International Circuit.