Renault Group CEO, Francois Provost insists that there are no discussions between Alpine and Christian Horner.

Ever since his sacking last summer, many believed it was not a question of whether Horner would return to the F1 paddock but when and with whom.

The Briton has been linked with various teams, including Ferrari, and even Chinese EV manufacturer BYD, but the most likely scenario appeared to be his involvement in a consortium looking to buy Otro Capital's 24% stake in Alpine.

Speaking to the Press Association however, Provost claims that there are no discussions with the Briton.

"There is no discussion today with Christian," he says. "We are assessing the options. I want the Renault Group to keep the control of our team, whoever could be the successor of Otro."

His comments come days after Mercedes said it was no longer interested in buying the stake, the German manufacturer, which supplies Alpine's engines, stunned at the $720m (£536m) asking price.

Mercedes withdrawal therefore appeared to give Horner the green light.

"I saw there are no further discussions now," says Provost of Mercedes. "I was not so satisfied to see that we are not progressing."

However, making clear that Renault intends to remain the majority shareholder, he says: "I would like to make two comments about this. The first one is that this Otro issue doesn't impact us at all as a team because we are in control. And the second point is that we will keep the control of our Formula 1 team. Alpine is an independent team and we intend to keep control."