More turbulence25 for Geri as hubby claims keep flying
F1 fallout as stars jet home
AS more details emerged in the text scandal that has rocked Red Bull boss Christian Horner and wife Geri, their posh pals travelled back from the Bahrain Grand Prix in a flight dubbed Air Force F1.
The Boeing 737 passengers included royals Princess Eugenie and Zara Phillips, along with their husbands Jack Brooksbank and Mike Tindall, and aristocrat the Duke of Richmond.
Also on board the party plane, which cost an estimated €140,000 to charter, were Jeremy Clarkson and his partner Lisa Hogan, Madonna’s son Rocco Ritchie, socialite Tamara Beckwith and billionaire David Howden.
They said their farewells on the tarmac after the 737 landed at Oxford Airport – convenient for those in the “Cotswolds set”, such as Clarkson.
Their pals the Horners had travelled home from Bahrain separately.
Christian Horner, 50, is at the centre of a scandal after flirtatious, suggestive messages he allegedly sent to a female colleague were leaked online.
Geri, 51, was on her way to Bahrain when the messages surfaced, but over the weekend she and her husband put on a united front, holding hands as they arrived for the race on Saturday.
They then kissed before the race, which Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won.
Horner was cleared last Wednesday of “coercive behaviour” towards a female colleague at Red Bull. But a detailed investigation into the case by trade publication Businessf1 Magazine has now named his accuser, stoking more problems for the F1 team.
And a video emerged yesterday of what appeared to be a fiery argument between Horner and Max Verstappen’s father Jos during the Formula One opening race weekend.
On Saturday, Jos added fuel to the fire when he refused to toe the party line that things were united at Red Bull.
He said of Horner: “There is tension here while he remains in position.
“The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems.”
After Horner’s team secured first and second place on Saturday, Eugenie, her husband Jack and her mother Sarah Ferguson walked down to the track to congratulate them on their success. The Duchess of York was seen having a lively conversation with Horner, who greeted Princess Eugenie, 33, with a peck on the cheek.
Eugenie arrived back in Britain after the seven-hour flight casually dressed in a beige trench coat.
TV host Clarkson, 63, and the 69year-old Duke of Richmond, founder of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, shook hands as they said their farewells.
At one point, Clarkson was seen giving 23-year-old Rocco Ritchie a playful punch to the chest.