“I have unfinished business in F1,” insists Horner

“I don’t need to go back,” insists former Red Bull boss, “I would only go back for the right opportunity.”

It looked as though he’d left the scandal that dominated the 2024 headlines behind, then suddenly, without warning, three days after last year’s British Grand Prix, in which Max Verstappen finished fifth and Yuki Tsunoda 15th, Red Bull issued a statement announcing that Laurent Mekies was appointed to the role of CEO and Team Principal with immediate effect, while Horner, who had led the team since it entered the sport in 2005, was merely thanked for his “incredible legacy” and for being “an important part” of the team’s history.

Since then, publicly at least, Horner has kept a low profile, though speculation over his future is rarely out of the headlines, the Briton having been linked with both Ferrari and Aston Martin, however it is talk of a stake in Alpine that suggests the 52-year-old hasn’t given up on the sport.

Speaking at the European Motor Show in Dublin, Horner joined a club that, ironically, includes a few members linked to Milton Keynes or Red Bull, names such as Eddie Irvine, Brendon Hartley and Sebastian Vettel, who all – like Lewis Hamilton last year – insisted they had “unfinished business” in F1.

“I feel like I have unfinished business in Formula 1,” said Horner. “It didn’t finish the way that I would have liked it to finish,” he added.

“But I am not going to come back for just anything,” he insisted. “I am only going to come back for something that can win. I don’t want to go back in the paddock unless I have something to do.

“I miss the sport,” he admitted, “I miss the people, I miss the team that I built. I had twenty-one incredible years in Formula 1. I had a great run, won a lot of races, championships and worked with some amazing drivers, engineers and partners.

“I don’t need to go back. I could stop my career now. I would only go back for the right opportunity to work with great people, and to work in an environment where people want to win, and they shared that desire.

“I would want to be a partner, rather than just a hired hand, but we will see how it plays out. I am not in a rush. I don’t need to do anything.

“What has been fascinating is that I stepped out of Red Bull on July 8, and this is the first time I have actually spoken to anyone,” he said.

Referring to the media speculation almost from the moment Red Bull fired him, he smiled: “I think I have been going to every single Formula 1 team, which has ranged from the back of the grid, to the middle of the grid, and to the front of the grid. And there just seems to be an appetite as to: ‘What am I going to do? Where am I going to go?’

“The reality is that until the spring I can’t do anything anyway,” he admitted, referring to the terms of his agreement with his former team. “It is very flattering to keep being associated with all of these different teams.”

It is now public knowledge that he is looking buying a stake in Alpine, which is now powered by Mercedes, whose boss happens to be his former nemesis, Toto Wolff.

“A lot of people made a lot out of the rivalry I had with him,” he laughed. “I have a huge amount of respect for him. He has been tremendously successful. He has won a huge amount. He is very bright.

“We are just different people, equally competitive, just different. And sport is boring if everybody is friendly and loves each other. You have got to have a rivalry that will create a real interest. The worst thing is if everyone is too nicey-nicey and chummy.”

Of course, should Horner get his way and end up partnering his pal Flavio Briatore at Alpine, the real winners will be the scriptwriters at Drive to Survive, for “nicey-nicey” and “chummy” wouldn’t feature in the pair’s vocabulary.