Horner received formal permission to return to the F1 paddock.

      Yesterday, the mandatory leave expired during which Christian Horner was not allowed to return to Formula 1 after last year's premature dismissal from Red Bull Racing. Formally, he is now entitled to offer his services to other teams and accept their proposals if any come in. Although he has not appeared in the paddock for ten months, his prominent figure has kept news about him and his possible plans coming up quite regularly, mostly at the rumor level.

      It is quite possible that Mohammed ben Sulayem, the FIA president, mentioned his name in a recent interview not by chance, emphasizing that he regularly contacts Horner, who wants to return to F1. But the question is, in what capacity? Many versions have been put forward, but none have been confirmed so far, which, of course, does not rule out that some active negotiations are taking place behind the scenes, the outcome of which will be known in the foreseeable future.

      Let us recall that the former head of Red Bull Racing was considered one of the contenders for shares in Alpine F1, but he was also rumored for one of the leadership positions at Aston Martin F1, and there were even talks that a manager of his level is of interest to Ferrari. His name was also mentioned in the context of the new Liberty Media project, as the American corporation recently acquired the assets of MotoGP, and there were speculations in the press that he could head the World Motorcycle Racing Championship. At the end of April, he attended the Spanish stage of this very popular championship and explained that he flew to Jerez specifically at the invitation of Liberty.

      Now, with 52-year-old Christian Horner becoming a free agent, various rumors about him will only increase – we just have to wait for further developments, which will show which of them turns out to be closer to the truth.