Christian Horner under the spotlight ahead of Bahrain race

Mr Horner, who has a home near Banbury, had been cleared of misconduct following an investigation into a team employee's accusations of inappropriate behaviour.

But the husband of former Spice Girls singer Geri Halliwell has been under scrutiny again for his messages to the female employee.

This comes ahead of the Formula One (F1) season starting with Saturday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

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On Wednesday, Mr Horner was cleared to continue as Red Bull team principal following an internal probe into “inappropriate behaviour” by the F1 team’s parent company Red Bull GmbH.

He has always denied the claims.

But just 24 hours later, messages and a number of images apparently exchanged between Mr Horner and the complainant were sent from an anonymous email account to 149 members of the F1 paddock.

This included FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem, F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali and the grid’s nine other team principals, as well as members of the media – on the eve of this weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Mr Horner said in a statement: “I will not comment on anonymous speculation, but to reiterate I have always denied the allegations.

“I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and fully cooperated with it every step of the way.

“It was a thorough and fair investigation conducted by an independent specialist barrister and it has concluded dismissing the complaint made.

“I remain fully focused on the start of the season.”

On Friday, Mr Horner, 50, was seen speaking to a F1 official at the front of Red Bull Racing’s hospitality suite.

As Mr Horner made his way to practice he added: “I am not going to comment on anonymous speculation from unknown sources.” When asked what comes next he replied: “We go racing.”

It is understood that neither F1’s American owners Liberty Media, nor its regulator the FIA, has seen Red Bull GmbH’s report into Horner which is thought to stretch to 150 pages – and was said to be “confidential”.

It is believed that the FIA is considering the legalities of asking Red Bull to hand over its report, and examining if Mr Horner might have breached two clauses of its International Sporting Code.

The FIA is the governing body of motor sport.

Article 12.2.1.c states a competitor will have committed an offence if there was “any fraudulent conduct or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally”.

Article 12.2.1.f highlights “any words, deeds or writings that have caused moral injury or loss to the FIA, its bodies, its members or its executive officers, and more generally on the interest of motor sport and on the values defended by the FIA”.

Meanwhile, article 12.2.1.g states that “any failure to cooperate in an investigation” would breach the code.