Christian Horner to Ferrari chance exposed after phone call

Martin Brundle has dismissed suggestions that Christian Horner is in line for the Ferrari team principal job, after the former F1 driver rang the old Red Bull boss to get to the bottom of the speculation himself.

Horner's position came under the microscope last week after an interview with The Times to promote his memoir, 'Drive', in which he described Ferrari as "the biggest brand in Formula 1" and "the sleeping giant" of the championship.

The comments triggered a wave of reports linking him to Fred Vasseur's job, forcing Ferrari into an unscheduled press briefing to back its team principal.

Reflecting on the rumours on Sky Sports F1, Brundle said: "Being the Ferrari driver or the Ferrari team principal is the best job in Formula 1 and the worst job in Formula 1, all at the same time," Brundle said to Sky Sports F1.

"Because the pressure and the hero-zero curve in that team are vertical sometimes, in terms of whether you're amazing or whether you're useless, so you've got to navigate your way through that."

And Brundle also decided to go straight to the source for clarification.

"There was a lot of talk of Christian Horner this week going [to Ferrari]," he added. "So I rang Christian to find out all about it, and he said, 'I was just being polite and respectful about Ferrari in another interview I did, and it took on a whole...'

"It was sort of two plus two equals seven and a half, I think, on that."

Horner 'not interested' for now

Brundle said Horner gave no indication he was chasing the Ferrari role, despite the frenzy his words created.

"I don't think Christian is interested in that, as he told it to me, that he's interested in anything in particular at the moment in Formula 1, until the right opportunity comes up," he said.

The F1 driver-turned-pundit also questioned the logic of such a move given the upheaval it would cause, as well as pointing to the fractured relationship between Horner and Lewis Hamilton after the 2021 F1 drivers' title battle.

"Can you imagine Christian and Lewis working together after 2021? That might be an interesting dynamic for a while there," Brundle added.

"But I don't think there's any point in just keep changing [boss], like you see in football. There's no point in just keep changing your key person.

"The role of team principal has actually changed quite dramatically as well in Formula 1, if you think about it, as to who's now in those roles. But I think they just need to stay calm and keep their heads down and support each other..."

Ferrari has already moved to shut down the rumours. Communications chief Maria Conti said the team's "position is clear, has not changed, and Ferrari has made its choices already", insisting there is "full confidence" in Vasseur.

Vasseur himself admitted the noise had become a distraction for his squad, saying: "Mr Horner is looking for a job, that everybody knows, everywhere.

"But what can I do? Just try to do my best to push the team, to rise them to be motivated, focus on what is better today."