The release of the latest season of Netflix’s Drive to Survive has revealed the poignant moment former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner broke the news of his sacking to his Spice Girl wife Geri Halliwell.
The long-serving team boss was deposed midway through the 2025 season amid a suspected power struggle at the Thai-Austrian constructor, one year on from his sex texting scandal which set the Formula One world alight.
Horner eventually left the team in July after receiving an £80million package, but while his departure sent shockwaves through the motorsport community, behind-the-scenes insight has revealed that Halliwell had an ominous inkling that her husband’s Red Bull days were numbered.
Footage in the docu-series’ Red Bull-centric episode showed Horner opening up to his wife at the table in their kitchen’s conservatory, with the 52-year-old starting the conversation with a downbeat ‘hey darling’.
‘All… all done and dusted,’ Horner confirmed as he kissed Halliwell on the forehead, before sitting down at the table and accepting a waiting latte.
Halliwell looked visibly emotional as Horner gave her the scant details of his meeting, before asking: ‘How do you feel?’
Christian Horner was consoled by his wife Geri Halliwell after his shock Red Bull sacking
‘How do I feel?’ Horner wondered aloud. ‘Um… I never imagined to be in this position.
‘Of course your immediate reaction when you get delivered a s*** sandwich like that is, like, f*** them. I’ve had something taken away from me that wasn’t my choice, that was very precious to me.
‘But you thought it was going to happen. We came back from that Austria race and I remember you sat on the bed one night and went “Something really bad’s gonna happen”.’
Halliwell confirmed that she had said that they were going to ‘fire’ her husband.
Scenes from the episode later showed Halliwell and Horner watching a race on television – a hitherto unusual way of experiencing raceday for the former team principal, who had held his role since 2005.
‘You haven’t got any of the data here really!’ Horner complained. ‘Well, normally I would have a whole bunch of noise in my ears. So it’s like you’re blind.’
Halliwell admitted that she now felt ‘a bit sad watching this’ as her eyes filled with tears.
53-year-old Halliwell was a semi-regular fixture on race weekend alongside her husband, often appearing in the paddock at the start and end of the season as well as at proximate races such as the British Grand Prix.
When in February 2024, the paddock was stunned by a leaked cache of suggestive messages purporting to be from Horner, Halliwell flew to Bahrain to take her husband’s side.
Horner was later accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour by a female member of staff, with an internal investigation led by KCs twice clearing him of wrongdoing. Halliwell supported him throughout.
Back at their Cotswolds home, Halliwell tried to lift the mood by suggesting that Horner might be trying to ‘eat his feelings’.
In improved spirits, the pair later horsed around by their swimming pool, with Horner pretending to be on the brink of throwing Halliwell in, before she admonished him, saying: ‘You’re such a t**t’.
