Christian Horner has been told by Adrian Newey that Aston Martin are “very happy with the personnel we have” with the former Red Bull team principal linked to the British team.

Horner is exploring a route back to Formula One after he was relieved of his duties by Red Bull a year ago.

The 52-year-old returned to the paddock at the British Grand Prix earlier this month, with FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem insisting Horner will return to the sport.

Newey worked with Horner across two decades at Red Bull but his tenure came to an abrupt end, announcing he was leaving the team in the wake of Horner being accused of controlling behaviour by a female colleague.

Horner was twice exonerated of the claims.

Asked ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix about the likelihood of Horner heading to Aston Martin, and if he would like to rekindle their working relationship, Newey said: “Yes, I keep hearing about these rumours with Christian.

“I can’t comment further. I don’t really know anything about that.

“All I can say is that we’re very happy with our senior management team. And we may do some minor tweaks, but the personnel we have at Aston Martin, we are very happy with.”

Aston Martin are in the midst of an abysmal year but they have arrived at the final round before the summer break armed with a major update.

And Newey added: “The first races have been a complete nightmare. Hopefully we can get to at least a point of respectability now.”

Horner oversaw eight world drivers’ championships and six constructors’ titles during his time at Red Bull. He has been linked with Alpine, Aston Martin, Ferrari, and also Chinese car manufacturer BYD to lead a possible 12th team on the grid.

Ben Sulayem admitted he would like to see Horner return to F1, stating: “He will get back. Where is not for me to say – even if I know. It is for him to say.”

Ben Sulayem added: “I am a believer that when you have a team you have to forget about what this person is doing, his personality, do you want the result or not?

“You look at his background. Please. Everybody makes mistakes, but did he deliver? What do you want? Do you want to win or not? Do you want to give it a try or not?

“There is behaviours, and bad behaviours, and if you do bad behaviour it will catch on you and nobody will want you.

“But it is about results, you bring someone, you pay him millions to get results. Of course, he shouldn’t go and kill someone, or drink and driving, that is bad behaviour but I said certain behaviours.”