Formula 1 boss Christian Horner has broken his silence on how he and his Spice Girls wife Geri Halliwell got past a sexting scandal.

Horner, team principal and CEO of Red Bull racing, which has three-time defending champion Max Verstappen, was was accused earlier this year of sending racy text messages to a subordinate female employee in the team.

Horner opened up about the saga for the first time in an interview with the Daily Mail.

“What happened at the beginning of the year felt like a perfect storm,” Horner said. “In life, a great lesson is that the more success you have, the more you become a target. Anything that can be used to disrupt and destabilize you and the team and the business. What disappointed me more than anything else was the steps that people went to try to achieve it.”

Horner was cleared of wrongdoing in a Red Bull investigation.

In the interview, he said Halliwell was “hugely supportive.”

“You’re just being true to yourself and I’m very lucky to have an amazing family. My wife has been incredible, amazing. Your partner is always the one you share your struggles with. She’s been absolutely amazing and hugely supportive,” says Horns.

“She saw through a lot of things from an outside perspective and it’s good to have that weight and measure. It is hugely important. You learn about yourselves in difficult times and I was absolutely determined that we would navigate through those difficult waters.”

As Verstappen has the chance to win his fourth straight F1 championship in Las Vegas this weekend, Horner spoke about how the controversy brought the team closer together.

“In times of difficulty and when stones are thrown, it actually energizes a team. I think there was an element of ‘f–k you’ from the team this year. Our people said ‘we’re a strong team, no matter what you throw at us, bring it,” Horner said.

“I never felt that I might have to walk away. I believed in myself. I believed in the process. I trusted the process that was carefully applied by the company and I just had to trust it. When I was on the plane to Bahrain I knew “I didn’t know if I was going to be in the race or not,” Horner said.

“But I had to believe in the process. I’ve had tremendous support and backing from the shareholders and from within the company. It was actually quite emotional before the first race when I spoke to the factory. I do the usual summary of the tests and what the targets are on way into the season and it was absolutely bang on.”