By Alan Baldwin
SILVERSTONE, England, July 5 (Reuters) - Christian Horner stepped back inside the Formula One paddock on Sunday for the first time since he was sacked as Red Bull team boss a year ago and said a full return would depend on whether he could be a winner again.
The Briton, who was replaced by Frenchman Laurent Mekies on July 9 last year, was invited back to the British Grand Prix by the president of the governing FIA Mohammed Ben Sulayem and Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali.
Horner ran Red Bull for 20 years, during which time they won eight drivers' world championships -- four with Sebastian Vettel and four with Max Verstappen -- and six constructors' titles.
The 52-year-old was also in the headlines in 2024 after a female employee accused him of inappropriate behaviour, of which he was cleared after an investigation.
Married to Spice Girls singer Geri Halliwell, Horner was also a prominent figure in the Netflix docu-series Drive to Survive where he had a fierce rivalry with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff.
Horner, who sounded relaxed when he chatted briefly to reporters in the FIA hospitality at Silverstone, told The Times newspaper in a first interview since his departure that he bore no ill feeling towards anyone.
He said his period of 'gardening leave', preventing him from working for any other team, had expired and he was now a free agent.
"I have no interest in just being a number in a machine, I've more than demonstrated what I'm capable of doing, and if I go back it would only be in a position where you were empowered to make a change, to drive difference, to win," Horner said.
"I know that I would become very frustrated, very quickly doing anything else. If you can't do it to win, why bother?"
Horner has been linked to several teams, notably Renault-owned Alpine and Aston Martin, in media speculation and he said it was inevitable that conversations happened but he did not feel he had to return.
"I've missed the competition a little bit, I haven't missed the politics and the bullshit side of things," he added.
"I'd only come back for the right thing, because at the end of the day I want to win and I want to be with winners. There's no point in just to come back for the sake of a job."
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin; Editing by Toby Chopra)
