Christian Horner has dismissed the "wild rumours" that his role as Red Bull team principal scuppered the team's proposed merger with Porsche as fiction.
For a long time, it looked as though the German giant's deal with Red Bull was little more than a formality. Porsche were expected to take control of 50 per-cent of the Milton Keynes-based team and boost their efforts to create a new Formula 1 engine through the Powertrains initiative.
But it seems the devil really was in the details of this particular merger. Differences in opinion and culture began to surface, and now the partnership looks to be dead in the water – though Porsche do still plan to enter the sport at some stage.
One of the rumoured details that supposedly became a stumbling block was Horner's role as team principal. Red Bull were allegedly not prepared to remove him from that post, while Porsche might have wanted to bring in their own candidate.
But asked about that particular claim, the long-serving team boss quickly made it clear that there was no truth in it. "There are always wild rumours in this paddock," he said.
"I recently made a commitment to this team in the long-term and indeed any discussions we have had have been contingent upon the management structure being the same, which has always been fully accepted. So I don't really need to comment on speculation."
The Porsche deal may have a huge impact on more than just Red Bull. Many manufacturers have been sniffing around the sport as it decides its 2026 engine regulations, while Audi have already announced their impending entrance into F1 as an engine supplier.
"I can only say that Porsche is an integral part of the group that has discussed and continues to discuss the rules behind the new power unit that will come into force in 2026," said F1 chief executive Stefano Domenicali ahead of this weekend's Italian Grand Prix.
"We have all read comments from Porsche and Red Bull, and they will be them to decide what to do. But I believe that we as F1 are currently a very inclusive platform. There are also other manufacturers sitting at the table of the engineers who prefer not to come out into the open."
