Will Christian Horner be next boss on Ferrari 'ejectable seat'?

They were understandable comments from Christian Horner, just published at the wrong time.

Over an Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend when the future of current Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur became a talking point in the paddock, a wide-ranging interview in The Times with Horner was aired.

Despite the nature of the article, which covered all aspects of Horner's life and career to promote the publication of his upcoming book, 'Drive', the headline said it all: Christian Horner: ‘Would I consider Ferrari? It’s the dream job’.

After 20 years with Red Bull, and despite the ignominious period he endured in 2024 before finally being sacked in July of last year, apparently for performance-related reasons, although Horner was told the team was "more Christian Horner Racing than Red Bull Racing", why wouldn't he consider Ferrari if "the dream job" became available? Who wouldn't?

Unfortunately, for Horner, the publication of The Times article, which RacingNews365 can confirm was written in early September, just so happened to go to press and coincide with the rumours surrounding Vasseur in Baku.

Additionally, the interview was arranged by the book's publisher, and not Horner himself, who was then naturally at the mercy of when it would be printed and, in tandem, go online.

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The barren Ferrari years

In The Times interview, Horner made clear that Ferrari was the one team he would renege on his previous remarks that for him to return to F1, it would have to be in an ownership role. 

"I've been a hired hand," he said. "I did 21 years sitting on the pit wall. I don't need to go back to that. At this stage in my life, there's only one team for which I would accept non-participation in ownership."

As to the team, in particular, he added: "Would I consider Ferrari? I mean, Ferrari is the biggest brand in Formula 1. It's the dream. And arguably it's the sleeping giant of Formula 1."

That last bit is true.

This is Vasseur's fourth season in charge after taking over the helm at the start of 2023. The laconic Frenchman has imposed his way of working on Ferrari - direct, no holds barred, and unafraid to make changes and ruffle feathers.

It was an approach that came within a few points of landing Ferrari an elusive championship in 2024, only to agonisingly finish 14 points shy of McLaren at the end of a record-equalling 24-race season.

The insufferable wait to end the silverware drought, stretching back almost two decades to Kimi Raikkonen's drivers' triumph in 2007 and the last team crown a year later, goes on for the tifosi, and all connected with the Maranello marque.

The fact that change at the top is again being mooted comes on the back of a disappointing campaign this year in which Ferrari was fully expected to take the new regulations by the scruff of the neck and strangle out of them at least one trophy.

The SF-26, however, whilst strong in the chassis department, has been found wanting with its power unit. Even after two ADUO updates now, designed to help it draw level with the strongest ICE on the grid, belonging to PU newcomers Red Bull-Ford, it is still lacking.

And so the speculation over Vasseur's future has started to gather momentum, despite the fact he has a contract through to the end of next season at least. Allied to additional rumours of a health issue, there is growing suspicion he would be allowed to leave gracefully at the end of the year.

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Would Horner prove divisive?

If that proves to be the case, Ferrari chairman John Elkann and CEO Benedetto Vigna will already have sounded out potential replacements.

Antonello Coletta, currently in charge of Maranello's World Endurance Championship programme, is undoubtedly one, although it is understood he has previously rebuffed any advances.

Jérôme d'Ambrosio, currently Ferrari's deputy team principal, is another. However, whilst he would present a smooth transition, he is a Vasseur hire and this, along with his lack of experience at such a senior level, would likely count against him.

And then there is Horner, who met with Elkann at his Oxfordshire home four years ago to discuss the possibility of replacing Mattia Binotto, only to turn the opportunity down, leading to Vasseur's eventual appointment.

The reason Horner rejected it then, and it will undoubtedly come into the equation again, is one of autonomy. At that stage, in 2022, when Red Bull was in its second ascendancy, and the team and Max Verstappen were masters of all they surveyed, Horner was in a similar position as team principal and CEO.

Dietrich Mateschitz was a staunch Horner ally. Although the Briton lacked power via any shareholding, he wielded it through the corridors at Milton Keynes, with little interference from Red Bull's billionaire benefactor.

Horner and Red Bull's world changed significantly when Mateschitz passed away in October that year. So began an internal power struggle that ultimately culminated in the 52-year-old's exit nearly 15 months ago.

You would assume that should Horner and Elkann meet again - and they just so happened to be in Naples at the same time this week for the Louis Vuitton Cup, the preliminary regatta to the America's Cup - the Briton would seek assurances regarding just how much power inside Maranello he would have, and how much interference there would be from Elkann and Vigna.

Horner would want to stamp his own authority on proceedings, and hire people he felt he could trust to do the job required to turn Ferrari into serial winners again. How many noses would that put out of joint of those currently working at Ferrari?

Horner would not be afraid, that's for sure, but for Elkann and Vigna, they know they would be hiring a figure that even by his own admission is "a Marmite character". There would be people with him, and those against. Could the potential divisions be worth the drama if Ferrari finally became champions again?

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For now, Vasseur is aware of the spotlight he is under, one that will only grow in intensity as the season reaches its climax. He was under no illusion when asked about the situation following the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

He knows the situation 'is not in his hands', but he will fight on. "For sure," he said. "Motorsport is my life, my business. I'm trying to do my best. I'm there to do my job. I have the best job in the world, but it is like it is. We still have seven races to go, and I will push until the last corner."

It becomes a question of whether Elkann and Vigna feel the time is right for another change, and with Horner a free agent, whether he is the right man to lead a team starved of the success Red Bull enjoyed, under the Briton's leadership, over the 18 years since Ferrari last won anything of repute.

As 1997 F1 champion Jacques Villeneuve noted when asked about the possibility of Horner joining Ferrari, he is "someone you have to take seriously and under consideration because he amazingly built up Red Bull, the winning Red Bull".

That will be uppermost in the minds of Elkann and Vigna: that Horner is someone who knows what it takes to mastermind success.

But would Horner, despite his "dream" proclamation about joining Ferrari, be so willing to join a team unafraid to quickly jettison its top people when further years roll by without silverware?

As Villeneuve further noted: "We've seen so many changes, like two, three years, [then the] next one, because the results don't come, or for whichever reason.

"So you're always on an ejectable seat, and you really have to be careful."

Right now, Horner's comments to The Times, despite their unfortunate timing, have stirred a pot that constantly bubbles over at Ferrari.