Horner has been out of work since being fired by Red Bull in July.
According to an F1 journalist, Ferrari president John Elkann is ‘bent’ on recruiting Christian Horner as team chief.
Horner was fired as CEO and team principal of Red Bull in July, after 20 years with the team.
Red Bull officially severed relations with Horner in August, removing him from their Companies House file, where he was listed as a director.
They then reached a £52 million settlement with the 51-year-old.
Following his original dismissal, Horner was placed on gardening leave until the entire details of his departure were worked out.
According to sources, he agreed to waive part of his compensation in order to shorten his gardening leave time, allowing him to engage with other teams about a comeback to Formula One.
He has definitely been active in this regard, as Aston Martin team principal Andy Cowell claimed during the Singapore Grand Prix that Horner has been ‘ringing up pretty much every team owner’.
https://x.com/SkySportsF1/status/1943021782769823835
According to veteran German journalist Ralf Bach, Ferrari president Elkann is ‘supposedly highly interested on securing Christian Horner’s job’ as team chief, despite just signing a contract extension with current boss Frederic Vasseur.
He continued, “Horner has 14 world championship trophies on his record. Elkann is regarded as an emotionally charged individual who is more concerned with what he thinks today than with what he thought yesterday.
“They extended Vasseur’s contract, but his position appears to be wobbling again. And this is where Horner comes in.”
Elkann and Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna made uncommon statements on Thursday during the company’s Capital Markets Day.
The pair concentrated on improving Ferrari’s underperformance in Formula One this year, with Vigna noting, “Our goal was to win races.” We accomplished this in endurance racing with the 499P [which won the Le Mans 24 Hours], but we need to improve in Formula One.
“We must win because it’s our duty to our loyal fans around the world.”
A transfer to Ferrari would be the most appealing option for Horner, primarily because it would let him to work with Lewis Hamilton.
Horner and Hamilton haven’t always been on the best of terms, especially during the Brit’s intense 2021 Drivers’ Championship duel with Max Verstappen.
The Red Bull CEO was outraged with Mercedes driver Hamilton following his lap one incident with Verstappen at the British Grand Prix, totally blaming him and calling his move on the Dutchman ‘desperate’.
He continued, “It is unacceptable. Max has suffered a 51G accident. Lewis Hamilton is an eight [seven]-time world champion; he should not be performing such antics. I hope Lewis is quite pleased with himself.
“You simply don’t do that here. You do not stick a wheel up the inside of Copse. The speed at which they are travelling makes it one of the quickest corners in the competition. I’m just disappointed that a driver of his level would make such a move. It was hazardous, it appeared desperate, and he had put a competition in the hospital. I do not care what Lewis said.”
When asked about Horner’s dismissal in July, Hamilton stated he was unconcerned: “When I’m away from race weekends, I don’t pay attention to what is going on in F1 other than what’s going on in my own team, so I was neither surprised nor unsurprised.” I was just minding my own business.”
xz
