sport news What's next for Christian Horner and Geri Halliwell: Best man at their wedding, ... trends now
Bernie Ecclestone believes peace will break out at Red Bull after the scandal that has engulfed the world championship-winning team.
The 93-year-old – Formula One’s most iconic figure and a best friend of previously embattled team principal Christian Horner – says that everything is mending after the scandal that hit in February.
Ecclestone told this column: ‘It’s peace in our time. And Christian informs me everything’s fantastic with Geri.’
That was a reference to Horner’s Spice Girl wife, Geri Halliwell, who has shown total loyalty to her 50-year-old husband after accusations of harassment made against him by a female employee.
He was cleared of the claims by an internal inquiry, the complainants allegations having been dismissed as ‘dishonest’. The woman in question has lodged an appeal, which is believed to be ongoing. She has enlisted an American legal firm to fight her corner. A final verdict awaits.
Bernie Ecclestone has shared his thoughts on the roiling scandal at Red Bull - and the state of Geri Halliwell and Christian Horner's marriage
Horner served as best man to Ecclestone at his third wedding and the ex-F1 chief later returned the favour
The Spice Girl joined her husband at the grands prix in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (pictured)
Halliwell, 51, made a public show of support by walking hand-in-hand with him in the paddock in Bahrain last month, and was again present for the second race in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, a week later.
Ecclestone, who was best man at Horner and Geri’s wedding nine years ago and brought him into Formula One to head up the then new Red Bull team in 2005, believes the controversy is dissipating and that is will soon be business as usual.
‘Max (Verstappen) seems likely to stay, and it’s like all wars in so much as people get over things and move on,’ said Ecclestone, who ran the sport for four decades, from his home in Switzerland. ‘After the Second World War you weren’t allowed to mention Germany, and the Jews wouldn’t buy anything from there. It was understandable.
‘But after not too long everyone forgets that and they are buying Mercedes. So I don’t see why anyone would want to push Christian out, certainly not as time acts as a great healer. He is doing a super job, and a few weeks can make a big difference.
‘He has Geri’s support, and the whole team is doing well. There is no logical reason to upset that balance.’
Max Verstappen now seems likely to stay at Red Bull after a turbulent start to the season
But Mercedes team principal is equally confident that he can sign the Dutchman next year
I hear that Toto Wolff is confident he can sign Verstappen, winner of three of the last four races on his march to a fourth title, for Mercedes next year.
I doubt it. Others close to the scene say there is no chance. We’ll see, but there is a sense that the worst of the Red Bull saga is abating. Good results act as invaluable balm.
Could anyone win in the dominant Red Bull? Is Max Verstappen flattered by his machinery? It is among the questions one gets asked most.
The answer is that any of the top drivers, seven or eight of them, could make a success of it to the extent they would win a world championship, but none would do so quite as conclusively as the
