Jos Verstappen was spending time with the woman at the heart of the Red Bull sexting scandal and became angry with Christian Horner when Geri Halliwell’s husband started sending her sexually suggestive messages, it was claimed today.
The two warring F1 giants ‘never really saw eye to eye in the first place’ but their friendship with the employee has ’caused even more difficulties’ between them, an insider has told MailOnline.
The source said that the relationship between ‘very suave’ Horner and ‘straight-talking and impulsive’ Verstappen is now broken following the scandal and Jos’ claim that Christian risks Red Bull being ‘being torn apart’ by ‘playing the victim, when he is the one causing the problems’.
‘It seems that Jos was spending time with her while Christian was texting her, which has caused a lot of anger between the men who never really saw eye to eye in the first place’, an insider said.
‘It’s causing a real headache for Red Bull to have the president and the father of the team’s star driver fighting.’
The new twist in the saga ramps up the pressure on Red Bull and what they knew about the unnamed employee’s relationship with both men before Horner was cleared of wrongdoing six days ago.
MailOnline has asked the F1 racing team a series of questions about whether they will investigate the friendship between Jos and the woman and the nature of her relationship with Mr Verstappen and Mr Horner.
Red Bull has also been asked if they will investigate damaging claims about Horner that have emerged in leaked WhatsApps since the team cleared their principal of any wrongdoing on February 29 after the woman accused him of coercive behaviour.
Scandal-hit Christian Horner having a blazing row with his nemesis Jos Verstappen, father of Red Bull’s star driver Max, on camera in Bahrain. It has emerged that Jos is friends with the woman at the centre of the scandal
Jos Verstappen, father of F1 driver Max, in another animated conversation with Christian Horner in Bahrain six days ago
Horner and wife Geri Halliwell put on a united front during the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday
Max Verstappen, Jos Verstappen and Max’s agent Raymond Vermeulen enter the paddock together during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain. Jos’ son Max is also being dragged further into the battle for control at Red Bull
Today a source close to the row said that Verstappen and Horner are at loggerheads over the unnamed woman, with little or no hope of them burying the hatchet.
‘It’s emerged that Jos and this woman complaining about Christian Horner had developed a close friendship’, the well-placed insider said, adding: ‘He has been seeing a lot of her and it’s caused even more difficulties between Jos and Christian’.
READ MORE: ALISON BOSHOFF: Why does the father of Red Bull’s star driver Max Verstappen loathe Geri’s husband so much?
The source added: ‘There has been animosity between Jos and Christian for a number of years. They are two powerful men from very different backgrounds. Christian is very suave while Jos is more straight-talking and impulsive. He can be impulsive and explode, which isn’t to everyone’s liking. They are just very different people’.
It came as Jos reportedly NFI’d Christian Horner from his birthday party but asked the rest of Red Bull’s top brass.
Verstappen Sr marked his 52nd birthday at a luxury hotel in Dubai on Monday night with his son, 26, the star driver’s manager Raymond Vermeulen and Helmut Marko, director of the Red Bull Formula One team, amongst the guests.
However, team boss Christian Horner, 50, was not asked along even though he is also staying in Dubai after the Bahrain Grand Prix, according to Bild.
Sources have claimed that Jos has been friends with the female co-worker who complained about Horner for at least three years.
There were even said to have looked cosy together on a yacht in Abu Dhabi in November 2021, celebrating Red Bull’s victory at a Grand Prix where his son famously overtook Lewis Hamilton to win the World Drivers’ Championship.
MailOnline has asked Red Bull is they were aware of this.
This alleged cosiness and Jos’s friendship with the Red Bull employee, are being put forward by Horner’s supporters as being a potential actor in what appears to be a profound dislike of Geri Halliwell’s husband by Jos.
Horner and Verstappen are at loggerheads with eachother over complaints made by woman at the heart of the row amid rumours Jos wants Christian fired or he will push for his superstar son Max to move to rivals Ferrari or Mercedes.
Verstappen Sr has been forced to deny he leaked the files last week, and has also denied leaking news of the grievance procedure against Horner to a Dutch newspaper.
One insider with knowledge of the row told MailOnline today that it shows that Formula 1 is a ‘dirty world’.
The warring men were even seen on TV in the middle of a heated row at the Bahrain Grand Prix where both men were wildly gesticulating inside a glass Red Bull trailer.
While the details of the of the conversation remains between them, it sparked speculation online that Jos could have been defending the female employee.
Despite the claims made about Horner, the woman remains a Red Bull employee based at Milton Keynes where she has worked in a senior role for the past four years.
Jos’ son Max is also being dragged further into the battle for control at Red Bull.
He has refused on four occasions in press conferences over the past weekend to offer Horner unconditional backing. Insiders have said he is believed to be in general support of his father’s stance.
Many believe the three-time world champion could try to force a move to Ferrari and join Lewis Hamilton if Horner holds on to his £8million-a-year job. There is also an empty seat at Mercedes when Lewis leaves at the end of 2024.
His father stirred the pot further over the weekend when he was seen speaking to Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
Jos has insisted that Red Bull would ‘explode’ if Horner remains as team principal after messages and pictures the Red Bull team principal sent to a female employee were leaked. He says Christian is playing the victim.
Red Bull have denied bombshell claims from a F1 trade magazine over Horner in a 19-page investigation which names the female member of staff he allegedly texted
Max Verstappen, who won the Bahrain Grand Prix at the weekend, with Red Bull boss Horner
Max (middle) chats to Horner (also in a Red Bull shirt) and his father (right) at the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix along with Flavio Briatore (left)
The woman at the centre of the Christian Horner sexual misconduct allegations which threaten to blow apart the F1 Red Bull racing team has worked for RedBull for four years, MailOnline revealed yesterday.
The attractive blue-eyed blonde’s claims against 50-year-old Horner have lit a fuse under not only the highly successful motorsports team, but also Horner’s marriage to former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell.
The woman, who MailOnline is not naming, was identified in a piece published by BusinessF1 Magazine today.
Sources claim that last year Horner began to develop a ‘superiority complex at Red Bull’.
The BusinessF1 piece claims: ‘There were incidents where Horner sent her text messages during Grand Prix weekends with a request to come to his room.
Horner was cleared of wrongdoing last month following an internal investigation at Red Bull into ‘coercive behaviour’ towards the colleague. However messages said to be between the pair were subsequently leaked.
The leak of messages seems to show that Horner sent her suggestive texts and intimate photographs believed to be the main evidence in her complaint to Red Bull GmbH. There were reportedly over 100 text messages and photographs.
According to the article, the woman who studied at Edinburgh University and comes from a wealthy background, began working in motorsport in the mid 2000s after being hired in her summer holidays, and then after graduation as an intern.
Horner, the husband of former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, is facing further heat after screenshots of a text conversation allegedly between the 50-year-old and the employee that made ‘coercive behaviour’ allegations against him were leaked via an anonymous email
Jos (right with his son Max) told Mail Sport that Red Bull would ‘explode’ if Horner kept his team principal role
She enjoyed the job at Red Bull initially, especially the travel and the excitement of the F1 grid.
But sources close to her claim that after a few years Horner’s attitude changed and she didn’t know how to handle the change in their relationship.
‘At first she was flattered but then horrified at the personal implications,’ it was claimed.
The new allegations came out as footage emerged of scandal-hit Horner having a blazing row with his nemesis Jos Verstappen, father of Red Bull’s star driver Max.
However, Horner’s attempts to move on from the scandal have been hampered by the publication of the long investigation into the case by BusinessF1.
The article makes a series of new allegations against Horner and documents the apparent power struggle at the top of Red Bull.
Sources close to Horner have dismissed the piece as ‘full of inaccuracies’, but it may be seized upon by his critics.
Foremost among these has been Verstappen’s father Jos, who has warned that the ongoing scandal was ‘driving the team apart’.
Footage has emerged of the pair having an animated exchange at the Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday.
The article claims that when the woman first made her claims, Horner’s first call was to former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, 93, for advice.
Despite the controversy off-track, on the circuit Horner’s Red Bull team got the season off to a perfect start, with Max Verstappen winning the season-opener ahead of Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez.
However, Max’s father Jos has emerged as one of Horner’s most vocal critics, with the pair filmed having a heated conversation after qualifying on Friday night.