Christian Horner shares Mother’s Day message to his wife Geri Halliwell with the Red Bull team principal ‘grateful, today and every day’… after lauding her ‘phenomenal support’ during his ‘sex texts’ scandal

Embattled Red Bull team principal Christian Horner shared photos of his wife Geri Halliwell to mark Mother’s Day, despite the furore around his sex texts scandal.

The Red Bull boss, 50, had been cleared of allegations of ‘coercive behaviour’, but has been fighting for his future after flirtatious text messages apparently exchanged between him and the female complainant were divulged to 149 F1 figures.

Halliwell, the former Spice Girl, has been in attendance at both the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prixs to show her support to her husband amid the controversy.

Horner shared two photos of Geri featuring the couple’s seven-year-old son Monty, as well as another snap with his own mother Sara.

‘Happy Mother’s Day – So appreciative of the mums in our family for everything they do,’ Horner wrote. ‘We’re always grateful, today and every day.’

Horner, who has won 13 world championships since heading the team as a 31-year-old in 2005, had previously thanked his ‘very supportive wife’ for her backing during the accusations.

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.

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.

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.’

Halliwell had last year recalled the lonely experience of being a single mum to her daughter Bluebell, comparing it to raising her son Monty with Horner.

The singer, shares Bluebell 17, with her screenwriter ex Gervasi. They split prior to her birth.

Halliwell said she needed ‘broad shoulders’ to raise Bluebell as a single parent and later struggled when ‘learning how to be a team.’

Geri told Giovanna: ‘I’ve experienced both and I can tell you that, yeah I had my mom to help me with Blue. So I’m very grateful. And her granddad is gorgeous so it was a fantastic role model for her.

‘He takes her to football, which is amazing and I think you know, they both have their blessings and challenges.

‘Being a single parent, mother you don’t have to answer to anyone, but it’s all on you. And that can be quite stressful and you have to be responsible. All the responsibilities are on you in every way.

‘Broad shoulders are needed and sometimes it’s lonely. So I’ve experienced that. And then, you know, having the blessing of having a lovely husband or partner, which I’ve experienced. That’s amazing.

‘So it’s not all on you, but then you’ve got to compromise, we might have, you know, we’re all different in the way we think things should be done. So learning to be a team, which has been a challenge for me.’

Halliwell staged another public show of unity with Horner as she watched his team charge to victory with another one-two finish in Jeddah yesterday.

Although Horner and Halliwell were seen cosying up again in front of the cameras, insiders claim that the leaked texts scandal ‘has been tough on her’.

Earlier this week, Horner’s accuser was suspended on full pay as a direct result of Red Bull’s inquiry because she was reportedly ‘dishonest’ when giving evidence.

As the spotlight continues to glare on Horner and Halliwell, a source close to the couple told The Sun: ‘It’s been tough but Geri has been a rock for Christian through all this and he has spoken out about how much that means to him.

‘There was no question of her staying away from Saudi – that would have sent entirely the wrong message.’

Horner also faced reporters in a press conference on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s race and admitted that the scandal had taken its toll on his family, while fending off questions on the woman at the centre of it.

He also said his wife had been ‘hugely supportive’ but admitted the scandal had been ‘very trying’ on his family.

‘It’s obviously been a very trying period,’ he said. ‘I’m married and have three children. And when that intrusion includes your children and the scrutiny that is placed upon your marriage.

‘I’m very fortunate that I have a beautiful family and very supportive wife. Of course, It’s very trying, it’s very challenging. When there’s children involved, parents, families, it’s not pretty.’

He added that the grievance had been ‘dealt with in the most professional manner’ by Red Bull’s parent company GmbH, which had appointed one of the top ‘KCs in the land’.

After fielding a barrage of questions of the topic, he called for the invasion into his private life to cease and attention turned towards racing.

‘The intrusion on my family is now enough,’ he said. ‘We need to move forward. It’s time now to focus on why we’re here, which is to go Formula One racing.’

Friends of the star claimed last week that it it would ‘break her heart’ to end her marriage to Christian — the man she sees as the ‘Prince Charming’ she has longed for since she was a little girl.

It’s believed that the scandal put the couple’s marriage ‘in question for the first time’.

Friends close to Halliwell, who stood by her husband of nine years resolutely throughout the internal probe, revealed she had ‘the meltdown to end all meltdowns over the leaks’.

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.

Halliwell had told friends that she was ‘relieved and elated’ that the claims against her partner had finally been dropped.

Friends of the 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.

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

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