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)