Shrewd Christian Horner decision could prove detrimental to Aston Martin

Has a decision from former Red Bull F1 boss Christian Horner doomed Aston Martin ahead of the 2026 season?

Former F1 driver Ivan Capelli's recent interview has inspired this thinking, stating that Horner made some moves during the latter days of his reign at Red Bull which allowed him to poach power unit personnel from Aston Martin's new partner Honda.

Of course, Horner has been linked with a move to Aston Martin to become their team principal ever since he was axed as Red Bull boss after 20 years last July, but instead it's his old colleague Adrian Newey who is in that unenviable position.

Newey cut a despondent figure during Bahrain pre-season testing this week, when Aston Martin faced a plethora of issues with their new Honda power unit which culminated in Lance Stroll only managing to complete six untimed laps on Friday.

Stroll has already claimed that they are as far as four seconds off the top of the grid, while Honda have said that they are 'not happy' with neither the reliability nor the speed being produced by the power unit.

And could those struggles - and Red Bull's strong performance in testing in comparison - be down to a shrewd move made by Horner?

"Credit for this goes to Christian Horner," Capelli told Gazzetta. "Who over the past few years has convinced Honda engineers to stay on board the [Red Bull Powertrains] project, while also securing key figures from Mercedes.

"This means that, yes, the engine is new, but it's managed by highly competent people."

F1 HEADLINES: Hamilton trick stuns rivals as FIA rule change lurks

Did Red Bull cause Honda brain drain?

Red Bull Powertrains director Ben Hodgkinson recently told Autosport that Red Bull's new era of power unit production started by 'trying to find what's turned into 700 people in a short space of time.'

According to the above publication, those 700 people were a mixture of Red Bull employees, staff pinched from Mercedes Powertrains, as well as Honda personnel who had previously been involved in the Red Bull-Honda power unit partnership.

When Honda abruptly decided to end their participation in F1 in 2021 - before then signing a new partnership with Aston Martin in the future - Horner got to work constructing the dream of a Red Bull Powertrains department, and convinced Honda employees that they could stay on but under the Red Bull name.

While Honda and Aston Martin's early 2026 struggles cannot be completely pinned on this shrewd move, it certainly seems as though Red Bull were quicker off the mark to put in place a plan once they realised that they would not be working with Honda further than the end of the 2025 season.

READ MORE: Six laps and home - How Aston Martin called time early on F1 testing nightmare

Related