Christian Horner's recent $100million settlement with Red Bull has triggered a ton of speculation about where and when a potential return to Formula 1 will happen.
He has been linked with several current squads, but another possibility is also understood to be under consideration - and that is of him potentially going it alone and setting up a 12th team.
All options appear to be on the table right now, with a specific agreement in his Red Bull severance package that allows him to return to F1 in the first half of next year making it clear he wants a grand prix racing comeback as soon as possible.
Otherwise, he would not have agreed to a reduced payout from Red Bull in exchange for being allowed to embark on an early adventure with one of the energy drinks firm's rivals.
There is no shortage of interest from other F1 teams, so Horner now just needs to settle in his own head what he wants to do - and in particular whether he joins someone else or does his own thing.
The control element
It is widely understood that Horner is only interested in a role that gives him full control over a squad, so he does not want to accept simply being a team principal and reporting into bosses above him.
Horner controlled all aspects of the Red Bull F1 operation: up until his dismissal he was in charge of not just the Red Bull Racing team but the engine division, marketing and the advanced engineering arm.
He believed that level of control was key in Red Bull becoming a multiple title-winning machine, and his stance on that being the way to run an F1 team has not changed.
This is why he previously turned down offers to join Ferrari and is not especially eager to wait to see if an opportunity opens up there over the next 12 months if the team fails to nail the 2026 rules and decides to overhaul its management.
One other aspect in F1 that would especially interest Horner, that he did not have at Red Bull, is equity: not just control over a team, but a stake in its ownership structure too.
There has been plenty of talk in recent weeks that Horner has investors that are ready to back any project he gets involved in and that potentially opens the door to a team buy-in.
The most obvious options that have emerged so far for Horner that would tick all the boxes are with Alpine and Aston Martin, two teams that are determined to get to the front of the grid and where he could get the control he seeks.
Horner is friends with Alpine executive advisor Flavio Briatore and it is entirely logical that some form of equity deal could be pulled together for him to buy into the squad.
That would put him in a senior role and give him the freedom that would be needed to help turnaround the Enstone-based operation.
Aston Martin also has big ambitions and, while Andy Cowell is currently CEO and team principal, it is not impossible that team owner Lawrence Stroll could position things to slot Horner into a role that would be attractive.
Getting some equity in the team could also be a part of that; there is already a precedent here, as it was revealed when design genius Adrian Newey was signed that his package included a stake.
As Newey said about that element of his deal: "To have the chance to be a shareholder and a partner is something that has never really been offered to me before."
There have been recent suggestions that an Aston Martin alliance would not work with Newey there, as it is known that friction in their relationship last year prompted Red Bull's former technical chief to leave the squad.
However, it is understood that things have moved on over the past 12 months and their friendship, which helped Red Bull to multiple championships, is now much repaired.
It is why they have enjoyed a number of social occasions together in recent months, including a trip together to see an Oasis concert.
Haas has also been mentioned as an option as well recently, and the Banbury-based team would clearly give Horner plenty of opportunity to make an impact and move it up the grid.
However, team owner Gene Haas is understood to not be interested in selling up at the moment, so this does not appear to be a front-running target unless circumstances change.
A 12th team?
It is clear that there are big opportunities for Horner among the current grid, but it is understood that a more leftfield idea is also being evaluated: setting up a team from scratch.
With suggestions of potential investors behind him and ready to support any team buy-in, why not go full in and build up something from scratch together?
F1’s governance agreements allows for up to 12 teams on the grid, which means there is, in theory, currently one vacant slot with Cadillac joining the field in 2026 as the 11th outfit.
To take it, Horner would need to pull together a pool of investors to help fund it - with the costs likely to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And an entry would be unlikely before 2028, even if things advanced quickly.
While this would be the most expensive route for Horner to take, it is equally one that would make a lot of financial sense.
With current team valuations being well north of $1billion, spending around half of that to get a team up and running would appear to be good value.
Horner was very commercially savvy as a team boss and having pooled together major corporations to back Red Bull, he may well have the necessary contacts needed to find partners willing to support the project to the extent it needs.
Sources have suggested that preliminary discussions on this front have already taken place.
But finding the necessary backers and putting the financial package together is one thing; it could be another when it comes to getting the entry across the line - as the Andretti operation originally behind the now Cadillac-fronted project found.
Despite having the money to enter F1, and even with the FIA's technical approval, its original effort was rejected by Formula One Management (FOM) because it was felt that Andretti did not bring added value to grand prix racing.
It was only when the plans evolved for a full-on, GM-backed Cadillac operation that F1 finally gave the team its seal of approval.
If Horner went ahead with the idea of a 12th team, he would need to ensure that any proposal he had would win over the support of rival teams, the FIA and FOM.
This could involve the support of a manufacturer, a game-changing sponsor or backer, or another key element that stakeholders in F1 feel would be difficult to reject.
For now, though, nothing is decided in Horner's head beyond his belief that he has unfinished business in F1.
