Christian Horner is weighing-up a return to Formula One but has been warned that one move simply ‘won’t work’.
Horner was given a massive £80million payoff by Red Bull after being sacked from his role as team principal back in July.
He’s been enjoying his time away, seen at an Oasis gig at Wembley (where he was booed) and heading off on road trip through the Scottish Highlands with wife Geri but he misses F1 and would be permitted to return from 2026.
The 51-year-old is already considering his options and chose to take less than the £110m that would have been available to him but would have prevented him from taking another job in the sport for years – as revealed by Daily Mail Sport’s Jonathan McEvoy.
Haas, Alpine, Ferrari and Aston Martin have all been linked with Horner, with Aston Martin having recruited Horner’s former Red Bull ally, Adrian Newey after 19 years working together.
Christian Horner, pictured with wife Geri, is contemplating a return to Formula One
Guenther Steiner (right) picked out one potential move that ‘won’t work’ for Christian Horner
However, Drive to Survive cult favourite Guenther Steiner believes the pair’s acrimonious last year means Horner ending up at Aston Martin is highly unlikely.
Newey, regarded as the greatest Formula 1 designer in history, asked to leave Red Bull and was reportedly unsettled by the allegations against Horner.
Horner’s situation first came into doubt amid accusations that he acted coercively towards a female employee, claims that came to light in February 2024. He was twice cleared by KCs in internal hearings and he denied wrongdoing.
Steiner, 60, told Lottoland: ‘In the last year the problem between Adrian and Christian was one of the reasons why Adrian left Red Bull.
‘So, bringing Christian back, I don’t think that would work at the moment. I don’t think Aston Martin need Christian right now.
‘I think there was a lot of unhappiness internally, and something had to change. The change was Christian leaving, and they are just trying to go back to their glory days now.
‘With Red Bull, we could see it during the last one-and-a-half years where every race weekend there was drama, and that has gone away.
‘I think Aston Martin with the people they have in place are very well set to show what they can do under the new regulations.’
Horner has landed an enormous package that allows him to take up another job in Formula One
Horner was summarily relieved of his Red Bull duties following the British Grand Prix, the decision being announced by Red Bull GmbH, the Austria-based energy drinks’ parent company, on July 9.
Horner, 51, was given no explanation for his firing – but it is understood that he fell victim to a power struggle.
Horner was backed by wife Geri, who staged a public show of support when she walked down the paddock hand-in-hand with him on the day of the Bahrain Grand Prix a few weeks later.
As Daily Mail Sport reported, the internal dynamic at Red Bull changed with the death in 2022 of his No 1 supporter, the organisation’s founding billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz, aged 78.
Horner and others, such as Oliver Mintzlaff, CEO of Corporate Projects and New Investments of Red Bull GmbH, and former RB Leipzig football club chief executive, vied for seniority in the new order, which had been shorn of its natural leader.
Horner’s next major backer, not least during the wobbly period of accusations against him, was Chalerm Yoovidhya, Red Bull’s Thai co-owner. Worth £26.5billion, he protected Horner against his enemies on the Austrian wing of the company, which was headed by Mark Mateschitz, Dietrich’s now 33-year-old heir.
Mark’s views of Horner have never been publicly expressed. But Daily Mail Sport was told that he was pressed by Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s 82-year-old ever-present motorsport adviser, and Verstappen’s father Jos, to remove him. Jos told Daily Mail Sport last year that Red Bull would ‘explode’ if Horner stayed in post.
Horner served as team principal from Red Bull’s inception on the Formula One grid in 2005.
His tenure yielded eight drivers’ and six constructors’ world titles in two verses of success, first with Sebastian Vettel and then Max Verstappen and there will be no shortage of admirers vying to sign him up.
