Red Bull boss Horner accompanied by wife Geri at Bahrain GP

Christian Horner and his wife Geri Horner walked hand in hand into the paddock of the Bahrain Grand Prix on Saturday in a public show of unity after the Red Bull Formula 1 team boss was cleared of misconduct allegations towards an employee.

Horner, 50, and the former Spice Girls singer appeared to be heading to the Red Bull hospitality area, where they mingled with VIP guests, as photographers and TV cameras looked on.

Their appearance together at the season-opening race came after F1 media and key paddock figures received an anonymous email on Thursday containing a Google Drive link to purported evidence submitted to investigation.

Among the recipients were the president of the sport's governing body, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, Formula 1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali, as well as the heads of rival teams.

A lengthy investigation by an independent lawyer for the champion team's Austrian parent company, Red Bull GmbH, cleared Horner of the allegations on Wednesday.

Speaking on Thursday, after Horner was cleared but before the email was sent, Mercedes and McLaren team bosses Toto Wolff and Zak Brown had called on Formula 1's governing body to push Red Bull calls for greater transparency on the investigation.

Ben Sulayem told the Financial Times that the controversy was damaging to the sport but that the body had no immediate plans to open its own investigation.

Horner met Ben Sulayem and Domenicali in the paddock on Friday.

The Briton is the sport's longest-serving team boss, having led Red Bull into Formula 1 in 2005.

Last year he guided the Milton Keynes-based team to their sixth constructors' title with 21 wins from 22 races during the most dominant campaign in the sport's history.

Verstappen, who starts Saturday's race from pole, is the favorite to open his quest for a fourth consecutive world title with a victory that would take his record at the top of the Formula One standings to 40 races.