Rumors about Horner's return intensify: Here's where things stand

The most recent speculation is that he intends to buy into Aston Martin via a complicated arrangement with a group who have currently invest in Alpine.

The suggestion was that the former team principal and CEO of Red Bull Racing wanted to buy into Aston Martin, currently owned by Lawrence Stroll.

The mapped-out route was confusing. Investor group Otro Capital would sell its stake in Alpine to Horner. With the money from that sale, the investment firm would then buy into Aston Martin. However, part of those shares would then be sold back to Horner in what would be a crazy turn of events.

However, investigation work by GPblog shows that no such deal is in the works. Aston Martin tells this website that there’s nothing to these stories and dismisses it as “silly season”. The most important stance from Aston Martin is that there are no shares for sale. Owner Stroll doesn’t want to sell anything.

GPblog has also learned that Horner himself does not want to get involved with Aston Martin under its current management set up. One such issue would be the driver line up, which contains Stroll's son, Lance. Stroll too has moved away from speculation linking him with Horner, plus we previously reported that Stroll Sr., when announcing Adrian Newey as team principal, informed the entire team that Horner would not be coming to Aston Martin.

Horner does want to return to F1 - that has been clear for some time. The team boss is understood to be interested in two projects. Option one would be to start his own team in Formula 1. A huge challenge, but one in which Horner would have full control. The downside, however, is that it’s a long-haul project, and competitors won’t be eager to admit a team led by Horner into the sport. As we saw through Andretti's difficulties in getting approval to join the grid.

The other option - and most straight-forward, would be to become a co-owner of Alpine. However, that too brings problems. Horner has history with Renault - after turning down the team's engine for Honda, plus there is no indication that Renault want to sell, despite closing its F1 engine operation.

Renault is the majority shareholder of the team, which will race with Mercedes engines in Formula 1 next season.

For now, there is still a status quo. There’s an option to start his own team, possibly even with former F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone, but that would be a very long-term project and at considerable cost. The other option would be to become a co-owner of Alpine, but that cannot happen until Renault want to sell it.