Christian Horner is “absolutely” confident he will remain in his post as Red Bull team principal for the F1 season-opener despite being subject to an ongoing investigation into alleged inappropriateꦡ be♚haviour.

Horner made his first public appearance since accusations of controlling behaviour were made against him by a female colleagueꦿ aౠs Red Bull launched their 2024 car on Thursday.

The 50-year-old has repeatedly and strenuously denied the allegations and has continued t🎀o work as normal for Red Bull while the internal investigation is ongoing.

Horner confirmed he w🌠ill be in the F1 paddock next week for pre-season testing i🔯n Bahrain.

When asked if he wasꦰ 🦂confident he will still be Red Bull’s team boss heading into the new season, Horner told: "Yeah, absolutely.

"Obviously there's a process that's ongoing. I'm v✱ery focused on the season ahead.”

Speaꦫking in a wider media session, Horner admitted the inquiry had been 🐎“a distraction” but insisted it was “business as normal”.

"Inevitably there has been a distraction but the team are ༺v🧜ery together," he added.

"Everybody is focused on the season ahead, so it's been very muc🎶h business as normal. The supp♕ort has been fantastic.”

He added: "I'm very foಞcused on the season ahead. Great to see the new car launched today and I'm looking forward to seeing it r🍬un in Bahrain next week. It's business as normal.

"I t♛hink everybody's keen to get to a conclusion, but there's a process that has to be resဣpected, that's only right, and in the fullness of time that will be completed.”

Horner also stressed he has 💟the full backing of Red Bull’s owners, despite🍸 reports to the contrary.

"We're very united,” he said. “We’ve always had tremendous support from the shareholde༒rs since D൲ietrich [Mateschitz]’s passing.

“The shareholders have been incre꧂dibly supportive, and you can see the level of investment there is on campus here with powertrains, with the future of Formula 1, that we're one team."