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.
Is it possible for Horner to enter a new team but not compete for the price money? F1 has a cost cap of about $225 million which in the current landscape can be raised through technical partnerships and sponsors. Jumping the hoops like Andretti did was totally unnecessary.
