Less than a week after departing from Red Bull Racing, Christian Horner is already being linked with several new posts within the F1 paddock, including the top job at Ferrari.
The Scuderia hasn’t won a title since 2007 and has approached Horner about leading the operation before, but Martin Brundle believes there’s one key element that stop the move now.
Crucial element missing for Christian Horner in potential Ferrari move
The former Red Bull team boss was axed on Wednesday after two decades in the job, with no explanation offered for the move.
Under Horner’s leadership, Red Bull won eight Drivers’ Championships, six Constructors’ titles, and 124 Grands Prix, marking him out as the second most successful team boss in F1 history, behind only Ron Dennis.
His accomplishments came after rebuilding what was the Jaguar team, taking the helm as a 31-year-old as Red Bull entered F1 in 2005.
Those accomplishments have marked him out as an attractive proposition in a market where there are seemingly a number of teams seeking fresh talent.
Chief among them is Fred Vasseur, who is in the final six months of his contract at Ferrari.
The Scuderia finished a narrow second to McLaren in last year’s Constructors’ Championship but has slipped off the pace of its Woking rivals in F1 2025.
Rather than challenging for the title, Ferrari has instead found itself embroiled in a scrap for second-best with McLaren and, to a lesser extent, Red Bull.
That has seen the pressure rise on Vasseur with the Italian press in particular predicting his demise, a view supported by known approaches to Horner. Those were rebuffed at the time with the Brit reaffirming his commitment to Red Bull Racing.
Now, with no such encumbrance, a move to Maranello could make a great deal of sense for both parties.
However, ex-F1 driver turned pundit Brundle suggested there’s one key element that the Scuderia would be unable to offer.
“I think that Christian will be desperate to have a stake in a team going forward,” Brundle told the Sky Sports F1 podcast.
“Some ownership rather than being a hired hand. Obviously, he won’t be able to do that at Ferrari, as entertaining as that job might be.”
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Karun Chandhok went a step further, suggesting he can’t see Horner joining Ferrari but did hypothesise another destination.
“There were lots of rumours that they had tried to hire him on various occasions; it didn’t happen,” he began.
“Fred Vasseur, lots of rumours about his future. Personally, I don’t think he’ll [Horner] will go there.
“Could he end up at Alpine? In terms of his personal life, he could carry on living in the UK.
“Does he want to uproot his children? Does he want to uproot his entire life? Probably not.
“Alpine is still based in that Oxfordshire valley, or motorsport valley here in the UK, and they’re looking for a team principal.
“They hired Steve Nielsen as an MD [managing director]; Christian’s old friend, Flavio Briatore, is in charge as a sort of executive consultant.
“That could be a future destination for Christian Horner, if he does choose to carry on in the pressure cooker of Formula 1.”
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