'Horner is ringing up pretty much every team owner at the moment'

At Friday’s press conference in Singapore, Cowell began: “I guess this popped up yesterday in our media session. I had a chat with Lawrence this morning to find out what he knows.

On Thursday, Cowell did not entirely rule out the prospect of Horner joining. "I think I'll refer back to what I said. We've got a plan and we're marching forward. I guess Christian needs to work out where he wants to play a part in the future. Who knows what will happen," he commented.

On Thursday, Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu talked about Horner approaching his team. “Yes it’s true that he approached us. And then one of our guys had an exploratory, let’s say, a talk. Then that’s it. Then nothing’s gone any further," the Japanese team principal commented in Singapore.

GPblog understands it was not the former Red Bull team boss who initially approached the American team. There was no direct contact from him; rather, an intermediary reached out to both Horner and a representative of team owner Gene Haas.

Back in September, F1 journalist Joe Saward raised the prospect of Horner making a move to Aston Martin. GPblog, however, understands that those rumours also held no substance.