The opening of the new Formula One season was dramatically overshadowed on Thursday evening after a leaked email purporting to contain images of messages between Christian Horner and the female member of staff who made a complaint against him was sent to media, team members and senior personnel within F1 and the sport’s governing body, the FIA.

Less than 24 hours after the result of the investigation into Horner for alleged inappropriate behaviour had exonerated the Red Bull team principal and dismissed the grievance, the sport was once more engulfed in speculation and conjecture after the anonymous email circulated around the paddock at the first race of the season in Bahrain.

The email was sent from two different email addresses three separate times to the recipients and contained a link to a Google Drive folder containing 79 images of messages purportedly sent between Horner and the female employee whose complaint prompted Red Bull Racing’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH, to instigate an investigation several weeks ago.

While Horner and Red Bull had hoped to be able finally to return their focus to racing during the second practice session of the day in Bahrain, attention was turned firmly away from the timing screens shortly after the session had begun at 6.22pm local time.

The images had been sent to journalists across the international press, team bosses and figures within the FIA and F1 management, under the subject header “Christian Horner investigation evidence”, with the introduction to the email stating: “Following Red Bull’s recent investigation and statements you will be interested to see the materials attached.”

There is no indication by whom the emails were sent and the veracity of their content cannot be proven.

Reacting to the incident Horner stridently reasserted his denial of the allegations of inappropriate behaviour made against him and restated that he was found to have no case to answer by the independent investigation conducted by an English barrister.

“I won’t comment on anonymous speculation,” he said. “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 Wednesday the result of the investigation was announced by Red Bull GmbH, which issued a short statement declaring the grievance had been dismissed but that it would not be revealing any details of the complaint, what materials or evidence the investigation had seen or the findings it made to protect the confidentiality of those involved.

The inquiry lasted weeks and is understood to have resulted in a report of 600 pages. Horner has been under intense scrutiny since the matter was made public on 5 February, during which time he repeatedly and emphatically denied any wrongdoing. The decision not to release any information provoked disquiet in the paddock, with the Mercedes team principal, Toto Wolff, demanding transparency from the company. Other senior figures within F1 also believe that after such a high-profile affair that brought the sport’s reputation into question, transparency is required to ensure the issue has been dealt with correctly.

Before the leaked email emerged, Wolff, who had insisted the investigation should be made public because it reflected on F1 as a whole, declared he did not believe it was satisfactory for the incident to be closed without any disclosure of detail or process.

“There is a lady in an organisation that has spoken to HR and said there was an issue, and it was investigated and yesterday, the sport has received the message that it’s all fine, we’ve looked at it,” he said. “I believe with the aspiration as a global sport, on such critical topics, it needs more transparency, and I wonder what the sport’s position is.”

The McLaren team principal, Zak Brown, concurred and maintained that F1 and the governing body, the FIA, should be given access to the investigation’s findings to reach their own conclusions to ensure the sport was not being brought into disrepute.

“The sanctioning body has a responsibility and authority to our sport, to our fans,” he said. “They need to make sure that things have been fully transparent with them. It needs to be thorough, fully transparent and that they come to the same conclusion that has been given by Red Bull and that they agree with the outcome. Until then, there’ll continue to be speculation, because there are a lot of unanswered questions about the whole process.”

With the pressure growing on Red Bull GmbH to share the information Wolff warned that F1 had to commit to proving its stated commitment to ethical behaviour. “As a sport, we cannot afford to leave things vague and opaque on critical topics like this, because this is going to catch us out,” he said.

F1 and the FIA have yet to comment on the outcome of the investigation or the process itself as it is understood neither party has been privy to any information from the inquiry.

Earlier in the day Horner had expressed his desire to put the events of the previous weeks behind him and return to running his team.

The parent company’s statement did not address whether Horner would remain as team principal and CEO of Red Bull Racing, which led to some speculation over his future role with the team. He has not spoken formally in Bahrain, where he was on the pit wall overseeing his team’s first practice session of the new season, but was unequivocal when asked about his future.

“It is very good to be here. I’m not going anywhere,” he said. “It’s an honour to lead this team and I’m delighted to be here defending our world titles.”