Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has offered his thoughts on the situation at Red Bull where his opposite number, Christian Horner, is facing an investigation for alleged inappropriate and controlling behaviour.

Horner has denied the allegations while the matter is nevertheless the subject of an internal enquiry.

With the teams converging on Bahrain for testing Wolff was asked to comment on the matter and he called for transparency. As one of five team principals attending a press conference on the opening day of testing, Wolff was the only one prepared to make a comment on the Horner situation.

Speaking to the media he said: “If it is done in the right way with transparency and rigour, we need to look at the outcomes and what it means for F1 and how we can learn from that.

“We want to talk about sport rather than these kind of very, very critical topics.

“F1 and the teams, we stand for inclusion, equality, fairness, diversity. And it is not only talking about it, it is living it day in and day out.

“These are the standards we are setting ourselves. We are a global sport, one of the most important sports in the world, and we are role models.

“But there is a lot of speculation happening over the last weeks, speculation we have heard of, and lots of things that are going on.

“It is not just a team issue. It is an issue for all of F1,” he said.