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MAX VERSTAPPEN backed his beleaguered Red Bull boss Christian Horner as the sexting storm rumbled on.
But the reigning world champion admits Horner was distracted as he raced to pole for today’s Bahrain Grand Prix opener.
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GettyVerstappen, 26, said: “He is fully committed to the team, he’s also here for the performance. Of course, probably a little bit distracted.
“When I look at how Christian operates within the team, he has been an incredible team boss, so absolutely, from the performance side of things, you can’t even question that.
“So that’s what I’m also dealing with. I speak to Christian a lot, and also throughout the weekend here.
“But like I said before, we just focus on the performance side of things, and that is how we all work together.”
Horner, 50, was cleared in an internal investigation of any wrongdoing towards a female staffer on Wednesday.
But he is battling for his future after key F1 personnel were sent an anonymous email claiming to contain evidence relating to Red Bull’s internal investigation.
The message contained images of WhatsApp exchanges in 79 Google Drive files which Horner refused to comment on.
The bombshell threatened to disrupt their preparations for the 2024 season’s F1 curtain-raiser.
However, Verstappen responded by taking the 33rd pole of his career ahead of Charles Leclerc and George Russell.
Dutchman Verstappen, 26, added: “From my side and what I can see also from the mechanics and the engineers, we are fully focused on the car and the performance here during the weekend.
“That is how it should be and what we continue to do, because it’s not our business. We’re not particularly involved in that.
“And we are here, we are paid to do our job, and that’s what we are doing and that’s also what we love doing. So that’s what we focus on.”
Horner arrived at the Bahrain International Circuit alone on Saturday morning to make the final preparations for the Bahrain GP.
He stopped briefly to check his phone and sign autographs for children as he paced around the paddock.
His wife Geri Halliwell later broke her cover to stand by Horner.
Yesterday, the Red Bull chief sat down for showdown talks with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem amid the sext scandal.
Ben Sulayem admitted the saga is having a negative impact which is overshadowing the sport.
He said: “It’s damaging the sport. This is damaging on a human level.”
It comes as
- Geri Halliwell’s marriage to Christian Horner is said to be “in question” following the sext leak
- The Spice Girl is said to have “felt like a fool” after Horner played down sexting claims
- Geri was “left humiliated” as she faces the “worst PR crisis of her career”
- A mole close to the Red Bull Racing camp allegedly detonated the Christian Horner sexting scandal in a bid to oust the F1 team boss
- The Red Bull Racing boss was cleared of sending improper texts to a female employee a day before the bombshell leak
Halliwell was left “heartbroken and humiliated” after hundreds of intimate sexts sent by her hubby to a female employee were leaked.
The Spice Girl, 51, touched down in Bahrain on Thursday night just as the bombshell messages began to spread around the globe but lay low before her appearance at the track ahead of the race.
Geri reportedly refused to see her husband after the leak but was talked into it by his family.
Some of the grubby messages were reported, including a request for a “Santa PJ selfie”.
He also regularly joked about Spanx, telling the woman she looks “attractive” in them.
In another, Horner starts by asking if he can make a “confession”.
He then describes a trip on a private jet to Dubai where he claims that the woman got him “out of control”.
The Sun learned that Geri knew of the female employee at the centre of the texting scandal.
A Red Bull insider said she even approved of the woman working in Horner’s team.
It comes after a mole close to the Red Bull Racing camp allegedly detonated the Christian Horner sexting scandal in a bid to oust the F1 team boss, The Sun revealed.
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