F1 News: Christian Horner is heading for Ferrari as 'sack the manager' vibes hit fever pitch

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Christian Horner

Christian Horner is heading for Ferrari as 'sack the manager' vibes hit fever pitch

Big change coming at Maranello?

Graham Shaw Consultant Editor

Digital sports specialist running global brands for 30 years

Monday 28 September 2026 12:27

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Christian Horner to Ferrari is the biggest storyline in F1 right now, and with every day it is a blockbusting move which looks ever more likely to happen.

A potential return to the sport for the 52-year-old Englishman overshadowed the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday, as the aftershock from Friday's big Horner interview carried over into more rumour and speculation.

The former Red Bull chief admitted to The Times that he would forego his stated aim of owning a piece of the next team he works for in just one case. The only exception would be Ferrari, a landing spot which Horner himself openly admits is 'the dream'.

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As speculation rages about the future of under-fire current team principal Fred Vasseur, reports from Italy suggest this is not just transfer talk.

Another Ferrari season which began with high hopes now looks likely to end with a whimper as a title challenge is replaced by failure, tension and acrimony inside Maranello.

Horner, a man who led Red Bull to eight Drivers' titles and six Constructors' championships in a glorious 20-year run, has the kind of CV which Ferrari should demand, and he has the abrasive personality to cut through the political red tape which so often ties the Scuderia in knots.

Former F1 team manager and current analyst and expert Peter Winsdor believes the move is likely to happen, with the current sentiment around Vasseur and Horner building into an unstoppable force.

F1 HEADLINES: Christian Horner Ferrari speculation addressed and team boss reveals 'secret negotiations'

Why Horner probably will join Ferrari

“I think he probably will go to Ferrari because of the groundswell of the whole ‘sack the manager’ mentality which I think is ludicrous in Formula 1," he told Cameron Cc on YouTube.

"Like most of the things tries to copy from football, they’re completely irrelevant and don’t work. And that is particularly one example of that.

Vasseur is under huge pressure at Ferrari.

“Having said that, I guess now there’s a feeling of fondness towards Christian. Whilst everybody was desperate to see him get sacked from Red Bull when all the scandal was going on - ‘oh gotta get rid of Christian Horner’ - now everybody loves Christian Horner again, and I guess he could well go to Ferrari.

“I think Christian’s a great guy, I think he’s got a very good racing brain, I think his heart’s in the right place."

Should Ferrari and Horner eventually decide on a union which would be the biggest signing in the sport since Lewis Hamilton left Mercedes for Maranello, success is by no means guaranteed says Windsor. He claims one key hire will be the determining factor.

"Being an effective team principal at Ferrari means having a great race car, creating a great race car.

“He [Horner] did that at Red Bull by giving Adrian Newey an opportunity he’d never had at Williams or McLaren - giving him free rein - and keeping him there for a long time.

“As a result the car was a championship-winning car for a multitude of years. Then it was an easy job, you just get the right drivers, do all this stuff, look after Red Bull - a monkey could do that job.

“But the key thing that he did there was to get Adrian in there.”

Windsor believes if Horner heads for Italy without his design genius already on board, he will find it difficult to deliver the success Ferrari has waited so long to achieve.

Horner must have 'the next Newey' lined up

“If Christian goes to Ferrari with the next Adrian Newey or the next Gordon Murray or the next Patrick Head, and he goes there with this engineer, and Ferrari give him free rein to let that engineer do what he needs to do with the people he wants working around him the way he wants to design and build the car, and they build a great race car, then go ahead. He’ll do a brilliant job, and they’ll win world championships as a result.

“But if Christian doesn’t have that package in his pocket, he doesn’t have the next Patrick Head or the next Adrian Newey or the next Gordon Murray, what is the point? He’s not going do a better job than Fred.

“He’ll be different in style, the furniture in his office will look different, he won’t speak Italian as well as Fred, and all the other stuff.

“But won’t be able to do very much because the car is the car. It’s a much more difficult thing to create and massage then getting the right drivers and paying them a fortune.

“That’s the problem and people shouldn’t misread what Christian did at Red Bull. What he did at Red Bull was give Adrian Newey the opportunity to do what Adrian Newey does.”

Written by

Graham Shaw - Consultant Editor

Digital sports leader with 30 years of senior level experience running global brands. Built sportinglife.com to be a behemoth in the UK as well as being in charge of the Planet Sport network of sites including planetf1.com, football365.com, teamtalk.com and planetrugby.com. Then grew goal.com to be the world's biggest soccer website in 18 languages and 37 territories. Was GM of Portals for Perform Group (now DAZN) with overall responsibility for sportingnews.com, spox.de and voetbalzone.nl.

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F1 Christian Horner Fred Vasseur