Geri Halliwell was red-eyed and wore a string bracelet 'to ward off evil and misfortune' in her defiant display of unity with husband Christian Horner...so was her kiss in full view of the cameras at the F1 'just for show'? writes KATIE HIND

Geri Horner put on a defiant show of unity with her husband yesterday amid her anguish over leaked flirtatious messages he allegedly sent to a female colleague.

Her eyes appeared to be reddened but the former Spice Girl walked hand-in-hand with husband Christian at the launch of the Formula 1 season in Bahrain.

The beleaguered couple also kissed passionately in Mr Horner’s team Red Bull’s paddock before the grand prix in what seemed an attempt to show the world their nine-year marriage was intact.

It’s been under strain since Mr Horner was accused of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ by a female colleague at the start of February.

Just as he was cleared of wrongdoing, a tranche of WhatsApp messages allegedly between him and the woman were leaked to the media.

Former Spice Girl Geri Horner put on a defiant show of unity with her husband, Christian, yesterday amid anguish over leaked flirtatious messages he allegedly sent to a female colleague

Her eyes appeared to be reddened but the former Spice Girl walked hand-in-hand with husband Christian Horner at the launch of the Formula 1 season in Bahrain

Onlookers watched yesterday as Mr Horner and his wife smooched in full view of cameras, prompting some to suggest that ‘it may have been just for show’.

Afterwards Mrs Horner, 51, who has a seven-year-old son Monty with the Red Bull principal, 50, deliberately looked towards the cameras.

Friends of the singer said that she wanted to show solidarity after ‘growing tired of the speculation about the future of her marriage’ and she also ‘wanted to change the narrative’.

Those close to the former Ginger Spice say she has been ‘struggling badly with the humiliation’.

They fear that despite the couple appearing together, Mrs Horner, who has a 17-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, won’t be able to get over the scandal.

But yesterday, to the outside world, she showed that she was going to fight for her marriage.

She ensured she looked the part, too – dressed in a cream vintage Gucci dress, accessorised with a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes and a mini Hermes Kelly clutch bag priced at £21,000.

She wore a red string bracelet on her left wrist to signify commitment to the Jewish spiritual teachings of Kabbalah.

She has long followed the belief and wearing the string is said to ward off any ‘evil and misfortune’ that could be ‘caused by the evil eye’. Friends say that it brings her strength.

Sources close to Mrs Horner say she has become increasingly spiritual over the years and has been meditating to help deal with her trauma in recent weeks.

One source said: ‘Geri is into a lot of hippy-dippy spiritual healing, she really believes in it and has been trying to use it a lot recently. Meditation is her big thing, she swears by it.’

She surprised the F1 world when she arrived in Bahrain just hours after the leaking of the WhatsApp texts, which were purportedly sent by her husband and which have been called ‘inappropriate’.

On Wednesday, Mr Horner had been cleared of any wrong-doing after a three-week inquiry conducted by an external lawyer for the F1 team’s parent company Red Bull GmbH.

The Horners were said to be ‘buoyant’ about moving forward from the scandal.

So Mrs Horner departed from the VIP terminal at Luton Airport on Thursday morning for a six-hour flight on a private jet owned by billionaire property developer Tony Gallagher.

But by the time she arrived in Bahrain at 6.23pm, her world once again had fallen apart after the messages were leaked.

The messages apparently exchanged between Mr Horner and the female complainant were sent to 149 Formula 1 figures, including journalists.

Geri surprised the F1 world when she arrived in Bahrain just hours after the leaking of the WhatsApp texts, which were purportedly sent by her husband and which have been called ‘inappropriate’

The singer was seen sporting a red string bracelet on her left arm, which is said to ‘ward off evil’

It is understood that the plane Mrs Horner travelled in had wi-fi so she could have seen the messages while in the air. When she was reunited with her husband at the five-star Ritz-Carlton hotel in Bahrain that evening, it was the first time they’d come face-to-face since the messages were leaked.

The next day, sources in Bahrain say she was seen ‘out and about’ but she managed to elude the cameras. Mr Horner has always denied the female colleague’s claims.

The turmoil did not affect his team’s performance, with top driver Max Verstappen winning ahead of his team-mate Sergio Perez.