While there was a certain amount of credibility to the media claim that Lawrence Stroll, the Canadian billionaire whose consortium bought Force India last year, making a significant bid for Aston Martin, the story has taken another giant leap in recent days.
In short, it is claimed that Stroll is also looking to buy the Mercedes F1 team, as well as Aston Martin, with the six - possibly seven - time world champions being renamed after the car manufacturer, with Toto Wolff also buying a significant stake in the car company.
The newly named Aston Martin F1 team would take up where Mercedes leaves off at the end of this season, and amidst talk Wolff would be employed running the road car company and its F1 team, Stroll would sell Racing Point, with failed Force India bidder, Dmitry Mazepin said to be the potential buyer.
Though no mention is made of who would drive the Aston Martins, and it highly unlikely that Wolff would wish to employ Lance Stroll, the story has led to further claims of Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari in what the media insists would be a dream move - though try telling that to Fernando Alonso or Sebastian Vettel.
The report claims that car giant Mercedes is looking to leave F1 at the end of this year, the possibility of a seventh consecutive title-double being the perfect opportunity, not to mention the desire to quit the sport before a new team agreement has to be signed, or indeed the company's bid to reduce its spending and indeed the prevailing attitude towards F1 in terms of the environment and the increasing move towards electric and hybrid vehicles for the road.
While the report cites a meeting of Mercedes bosses on the 12th of next month, when asked to confirm this, a senior source at Daimler, Mercedes parent company, denied this.
"Not true," Daimler Chief Executive, Ola Kaellenius told Reuters at the German Auto Industry annual reception in Berlin.
Meanwhile, amidst talk of Hamilton looking to leave Mercedes to join Ferrari at season end after failing to agree a new contract, the Briton took to social media, as he so often does.
"FYI Toto and I have not even spoken about contract yet," he said in a post on Instagram. "Nothing is being negotiated currently, papers making up stories."
While there has been speculation over the futures of Mercedes, Wolff and Hamilton for some time, the recent media claims have taken this to a whole new level.
Hamilton previously said that in terms of his future he wanted to see what Wolff's plan were, the Austrian having been linked with Chase Carey's role as F1 supremo.
Though Mercedes has long-term contracts to provide engines for McLaren, Racing Point and Williams, Wolff, who owns 30% of the team, with another 10% held by Niki Lauda's estate, had previously said that if Mercedes quit as a constructor it would also quit as an engine supplier.
Aside from the comments from Daimler and Hamilton, there are many aspects to the story which don't add up, and though F1 bosses may be delighted that Mercedes would remain in F1 - albeit as Aston Martin - one has to wonder at the subsequent potential threat to the sport.
While ditching Racing Point for Mercedes might make good business sense for Stroll, assuming he did buy the Brackley outfit, what with Mazepin potentially buying Racing Point and Michael Latifi hovering in the background at Williams, this would mean three billionaires essentially buying teams to further the careers of their sons.
When one considers the long term fears that Red Bull (and Toro Rosso) owner, Dietrich Mateschitz might one day wake up and decide he’s had enough of F1 - much like Tata did recently, and Gene Haas may well be considering - the thought of two or three more teams facing such an unstable future is the last thing the sport needs.
Furthermore, should he buy Racing Point, would Mazepin pick up where Stroll left off in terms of the various ambitious plans, not least the new factory.
If nothing else, at a time of year when genuine news is thin on the ground, this particular story has got people talking (and clicking).
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