Last week, the German outlet F1-Insider reported that Ferrari’s interest in Christian Horner is far from fading, despite the confirmation of Fred Vasseur at the helm of the team in late July. The less-than-impressive performance of the SF-25 has fueled all kinds of speculation around the Scuderia, mainly driven by dissatisfaction with a situation that seems to offer no immediate solutions. It is clear that the car for next year, when a new set of regulations comes into effect, will be decisive.
But are these just unfounded rumors, as some observers have immediately pointed out, or is there some truth behind them, without ignoring the difficulties of such an operation?
It should be noted that in F1 it makes little sense to apply the unwritten—but commonly followed—rule from football of changing the coach to improve team performance. Christian Horner’s potential move to Ferrari, however, cannot simply be dismissed as a baseless suggestion. On one hand, it is true that Horner, despite being an employee, was essentially the driving force behind Red Bull, serving not only as team principal of Red Bull Racing but also as CEO of the team and of two other entities—Red Bull Technologies and Red Bull Powertrains (which will produce the 2026 power units). His ambition for greater decision-making autonomy created the conditions for the power struggle that erupted in Milton Keynes. On the other hand, the challenge of restoring Ferrari to a level befitting the prestige of the Prancing Horse could be a unique reason to set aside any desire to acquire a stake in the team, which had seemed to be a precondition for taking the role.
In the UK, many believe that despite the power struggle that tore Red Bull apart for over a year, numerous engineers remained loyal to Horner, ready to follow him on a new project where they would effectively start from scratch. This scenario could involve acquiring a team—which had seemed Christian Horner’s intention—or integrating human resources according to a plan and methodology that only a top team can afford. Christian Horner knows from direct experience that starting from zero, or from a level similar to Alpine’s, would require efforts comparable to those Aston Martin has made over the past three years, without yet seeing results.
No one underestimates the difficulties of executing a complex operation such as Horner joining Ferrari, nor the fact that the team’s reconstruction process would not be immediate. But given what’s at stake, it is considered a move worth attempting from both sides.
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