MAX VERSTAPPEN temporarily took the spotlight off team boss Christian Horner today by putting his Red Bull on pole position for the opening round of the new Formula One season in Bahrain.

The build-up to the first race of the campaign has totally been overshadowed by allegations whirling around Horner.

The 50-year-old was exonerated by Red Bull Racing parent’s company, Red Bull GmbH, following an internal probe into “inappropriate behaviour” against a female colleague on Wednesday — before hundreds of WhatsApp messages appearing to be written by him were leaked to the F1 world a day later.