Formula One has called for Christian Horner’s Red Bull future to be “clarified at the earliest opportunity”.

Horner’s role as Red Bull team principal remains in the balance following a claim of “inappropriate behaviour” by a female colleague.

Speaking at Red Bull Racing’s car launch in Milton Keynes last Thursday, the 50-year old continued to emphatically deny the allegations made against him, and insisted he would be in Bahrain for the opening race of the season on March 2.

An F1 spokesperson said on Sunday evening: “We have noted that Red Bull has instigated an independent investigation into internal allegations at Red Bull Racing.

“We hope that the matter will be clarified at the earliest opportunity, after a fair and thorough process, and we will not comment further at this time.”

Horner said he was unable to provide a timeline as to when the investigation by the racing team’s parent company, Red Bull GmBH, will be completed.

Testing for the new campaign gets under way in Bahrain on Wednesday.

Last season, Red Bull won all but one of the 22 races, with Max Verstappen taking his third world championship in as many years.