Christian Horner F1 ally backs sacked Red Bull boss to succeed in Ferrari role

Christian Horner has been backed to perform well as Ferrari team principal, if the famous team were to move on from Fred Vasseur.

The 51-year-old was dropped last week as Red Bull team principal after 20 years in charge of their F1 operations, leaving him a surprise candidate for any other high level jobs which open up.

However, Horner's friend Riccardo Patrese has warned that the wildly successful former Red Bull chief may be unlikely to ever be offered a role with the Scuderia.

The problem, he claimed, was a series of scandals that hit Horner and the Red Bull team stretching back to 2024.

Patrese: Controversial 2024 may cost Horner

Patrese notes Horner has suffered a reputational dip and may make some teams hesitant to court the controversy his arrival would bring.

Speaking to Prime Casino, Patrese said: “There has been a lot of criticism of him because of their results, and they are up and down and do not have consistency.  But after the storms and the tornadoes at Ferrari I think the air is getting better. It looks like that at the moment everything is sleeping about Vasseur. The speculation has stopped.

“Horner is very good, but I think that all the stories from last year would be a problem. He can put on the table his record over the last 20 years. He has a very good pedigree. But one year on they are still talking about this story.

“I'm a friend of Christian Horner and sent him a message of support and I think that he is a very good team principal. I think he's able to do the job, but Ferrari wants to have an image and not many distractions. This is my opinion.”

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