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AN explosive sexting scandal almost wrecked Christian Horner’s marriage to pop royalty – and a year later, his F1 career was in tatters.

The multi-millionaire racing tycoon, married to ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, was sacked by Red Bull with a £76million payoff after sending hundreds of texts to an attractive aide, pestering her for pics and sexy chat.

Geri was left heartbroken and humiliated by the WhatsApp messages, leaked in 2024 — a day after Horner was cleared of inappropriate, and controlling behaviour towards the woman in an independent probe.

Loyal Geri stood by her man, but Red Bull’s track performance took a hit amid the damning claims.

Now Horner, 52, has written an extraordinary new memoir, Drive, out on Thursday, which is essentially a grovelling, 320-page love letter to his wife of 11 years.

In it, he swerves the awkward reason his marriage nearly hit the skids.

Instead, he praises Geri for steering him through the darkest days of his life — while glossing over the aide who complained about his conduct.

The former Red Bull chief executive was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, and his book does not link the embarrassing scandal to his sacking after 20 years in the top Formula One job.

Instead, he blames a series of poor results on the race track, and does not attempt to explain or justify why he sent the flirty messages.

Yet Horner DOES recall his wife heroically mustering every ounce of Girl Power as the crisis erupted.

Initially baffled by the allegations levelled against him, Horner writes: “What was going on?

“The lawyer, presumably aware that a wrecking ball was being aimed at my life, explained the situation as my sense of bewilderment rose.

“Geri knew by my face that something was very wrong.

“She fell silent as she listened. We both understood the implications immediately. She looked at me. ‘Just tell your truth’, she said.

“‘That’s all I can do’, I replied.

“She reassured me that everything would be all right.

“Her resilience was remarkable.

“Our lives had been turned upside down, yet she found the strength and conviction to support me through an immensely difficult period, one that was undoubtedly challenging for her as well.

“Her belief in me gave me the determination to move forward. At a time when my confidence was being tested, Geri provided the perspective and stability that I needed most.

“Without her support, I’m not sure I could have navigated those months in the same way.”

Days after Horner was cleared of behaving inappropriately in 2024, Red Bull suspended his accuser on full pay. The woman, who was not named, then agreed to leave Red Bull for a £3million settlement and dropped her claims.

She signed a non-disclosure agreement that prevents her from talking about the scandal.

Her appeal over the outcome of the probe into Horner was thrown out.

Despite landing another job in motor racing, she was dismissed less than a year later amid “trust issues”.

The other glaring omission in Horner’s carefully-curated life story is the bitter feud with his parents.

Garry and Sara Horner were so horrified when their son hooked up with Geri that they refused to attend the wedding.

Christian and his previous partner, pub landlady Beverley Allen, had a baby daughter, Olivia, who was 19 months at the time of the nuptials.

In Drive, his relationship with Beverley, who died from cancer aged 58, is dispatched in a couple of swift sentences, and he describes falling for Geri like something out of a cheesy romcom.

He says marrying the singer at Woburn Abbey, Beds, in 2015 was the happiest day of his life.

“It was obvious that Beverley and I were drifting apart,” writes Horner.

“Our relationship was now more of a loving friendship than anything else, and it was clear that what had once brought us together was no longer there. We had never married, though we had a daughter, Olivia, and although our relationship had faded, we remained amicable.

“The following year, my relationship with Geri began. She had a natural warmth and confidence, and she treated everyone the same, whether they were royalty or a road sweeper.

“It was clear there was something between us.” Their controversial courtship and Beverley’s heartbreak are skipped entirely, along with him being such a workaholic that he once missed Olivia’s birth.

Months after he began dating Geri, he proposed while hiking up Mount Fuji in Japan, and became a second father to Bluebell, her daughter from a previous relationship with screenwriter Sacha Gervasi.

He says: “Geri was the woman I wanted to marry. I knew it almost from the moment we started going out. Our connection was undeniable; I had never experienced anything like it before. I had totally fallen for her.

“Within twelve months, we were engaged. I wasn’t planning to propose at the ­time — the thought of buying a ring hadn’t even occurred to me — but the occasion seemed too perfect.

“The sun was dipping behind the mountain, the shadows were lengthening, so I grabbed the moment, and Geri, to my relief, said yes.

“With the emotion of the proposal beginning to sink in, we hitched a ride on a passing dustcart and rode to the bottom, laughing.

“Geri and I later married at a beautiful service. Daniel Ricciardo drove us in a vintage Rolls-Royce to the reception; Daniil Kvyat chauffeured the bridesmaids. Geri’s father had sadly passed away when she was in her twenties, so her daughter, Bluebell, walked her down the aisle.

“I knew that when I married Geri, I’d be taking on responsibility for Bluebell, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the arrangement.

“It was one of the happiest days of my life.” Geri slotted into Horner’s life in the Cotswolds and took to wearing prim, all-white outfits as she embarked on her luxurious role as lady of the manor.

She said in 2019 that her plain wardrobe freed up time and brain space: “I was at a moment in my life when I just needed simplicity.

“Also, if you only wear white, everything matches.”

Within a year of marrying, she was pregnant with their son Monty.

And now, following Horner’s astonishing Red Bull payoff, which was revealed this month, they are considering upgrading their £9.2million Oxfordshire mansion.

They recently viewed Edgcote House, Notts, a sprawling, £45million estate with a private racecourse which featured in the BBC’s Pride And Prejudice. Love-struck Horner might still be unemployed, but he insists the marriage has been all smooth sailing, raving: “I couldn’t have imagined anyone better to spend my life with.

“Geri was unswervingly supportive of what our family wanted to do. In a relationship where both parties were exposed to public scrutiny, she was able to deal with the pressure like it was irrelevant.

“Clearly, years spent at the centre of global fame had given her an extraordinary sense of composure.

“In moments of stress, she had the capacity to compartmentalise the negative emotions and focus on the positives.

“I learned so much from her about how to handle the never-ending stress and cutthroat politics of Formula One.” Horner also bats off the backlash that came his way following his appearances on Netflix’s Drive To Survive.

Last year, he was booed by an angry crowd at the O2 Arena. He was previously dubbed a “Karen” for incessantly complaining about Lewis Hamilton and other teams.

He recalls: “Overnight, Formula One’s audience had grown beyond the traditional fanbase, and with it came a level of scrutiny I’d never experienced before.

“Every comment, every expression and every disagreement became part of the story. In creating a bingeable show, Netflix filmed hundreds of hours of footage and naturally presented the juiciest material, which I ­understood.

“But the fact that Red Bull were going up against Lewis, a national treasure in the UK, meant we were sometimes cast as the villains.

“Before long, I had become Drive To Survive  ’s equivalent of Darth Vader.

“Fortunately, Geri understood the fickle nature of public perception better than I ever could. Really, I should have expected it. It wasn’t pleasant, but I accepted it.

“’It doesn’t matter if they boo’, she said. ‘Booing means they care. It’s only a problem when they ignore you’. Fair enough, I thought. To enjoy the rewards of success, I also had to accept the scrutiny that sometimes came with it.”

Horner admits Beverley’s death last summer was tough on their daughter. “As it became obvious that the end was drawing closer, I talked through the situation with Olivia. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

“For the past few years, her mum had been in and out of hospital, and she was growing weaker.

“There was no getting away from what was coming. It all seemed so unfair. I had only recently turned fifty and was lucky enough to still have both my mother and father. I felt upset Olivia wouldn’t have the same experience.

“No little girl should have to go through this, I thought. I wanted to do everything that I could to help.

“But I couldn’t do the one thing she needed most of all. I couldn’t save her mum.”

• Drive by Christian Horner is published on Thursday by Penguin Random House.