Adrian Newey has not signed a deal with Ferrari and is a long way from deciding his next move, according to his business manager Eddie Jordan.
Newey will step down as Red Bull chief technical officer in early 2025, a decision which has sparked intense speculation about his next move.
The rumours of a switch to Ferrari, which would help him fulfill a career ambition of working with Lewis Hamilton, have been the strongest.
Ahead of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix the Daily Mail reported Newey to Ferrari is a done deal, but former F1 team boss Jordan, who handles Newey's business affairs, has said it is not true.
"It's not accurate, I can give my life on that," Jordan said on his Formula For Success podcast. "There is no inclination to go in any particular way at the moment. We're looking at opportunities and letting people come and talk to us."
Newey clearly will not have a shortage of interested and motivated suitors. He has also been linked with a return to former teams McLaren and Williams as well as Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin team. Alonso is another driver Newey has expressed regret at not working with before.
Newey built title-winning cars for Williams and McLarens in the 1990s before moving to Red Bull. His surprise move the upstart team ahead of the 2006 season was a shock at the time and turned out to be one of the cornerstones on which Red Bull's two dynasty periods were built.
Red Bull won consecutive championships with Newey's cars between 2010 and 2013 and is dominating the sport once again.
With Ferrari currently in a title drought stretching back to 2008 there has been a wave of excitement about the prospect of him moving to the Maranello-based team. But Jordan has cooled that talk, saying discussions about his next steps are not that advanced because Newey is in no rush to decide.
"I'm speaking as someone who should know and I'm not giving any information away... at no stage is any of this discussion happening," Jordan said, referring to the Ferrari story.
"There will be talks, and there will be ongoing talks because we have yet to decide what Adrian himself wants to do. He's been at this straight from university, Leyton House, McLaren, Williams.
"The guy is 60-something, he's getting a new boat. I would've said [his options] alongside all those potential teams we're talking about, the fifth team he should be thinking about is himself.
"I have no idea, and it will always be Adrian's decision, and so it should be."