sport news Geri Halliwell being paraded in the F1 paddock by her under-fire husband ... trends now

Christian Horner and Geri Halliwell's show of unity at the Bahrain Grand Prix has been branded a 'farce' by a former Formula One driver.

Halliwell had been filmed and photographed hand-in-hand with Horner on her way to the Bahrain International Circuit grid on Saturday, amid Red Bull chief's ongoing leaked text message scandal.

A tranche of WhatsApp messages and photographs Horner allegedly sent to a female employee were leaked one day after the 50-year-old was cleared of 'coercive behaviour towards a female colleague' by Red Bull ahead of the 2024 season curtain-raiser.

Halliwell and Horner were later photographed sharing a kiss in the paddock less than an hour before lights out in Bahrain.

It appeared that Horner leaned in to kiss his wife in full view of the cameras as the world watched their response to the controversy that has rocked Formula One.

After they kissed, Halliwell seemed to look directly at photographers.

Christijan Albers, who raced in Formula One between 2005 and 2007, has blasted the public show of unity between the couple.

Albers, speaking on Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf's F1 podcast, claimed the display was a 'farce' and accused Horner of an 'absolute nonsense' PR move.

'What kind of farce is that?', said Albers, who now works for Dutch television as a F1 analyst.

'It's always very easy to say something about that, it is for me too. It's easy to undercut someone.

'Only, let's be honest, that PR guy, or what he himself came up with to walk onto the paddock with Geri, is of course just absolute nonsense.

'That's just a farce, and I would never have done that myself.'

Albers, who briefly served as the team principal at the former F1 team Caterham in 2014, claimed Horner's ongoing scandal is a 'difficult story'.