Christian Horner reveals 'dazzling' Mercedes offer

Christian Horner has dropped another bombshell on the F1 paddock in his new book, claiming Mercedes wanted to sign him before eventually landing Toto Wolff.

The 52-year-old Horner spent two decades making Red Bull great before his shock sacking in July 2025. But things could have been very different had he accepted an offer from Niki Lauda back in 2013.

Horner, writing in his new memoir 'Drive', claims that Lauda wanted him to leave Red Bull and take over the reins at Mercedes, but he refused the offer out of loyalty to co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz and his team.

Eventually Lauda would hire the young Austrian Wolff instead, and the course of F1 history was changed forever.

The latest revelation from Horner takes us right back to the days when Mercedes were still trying to establish a true foothold in F1, it seems like a lifetime ago.

Meanwhile Horner and Red Bull were dominant in the midst of that run of four consecutive world titles for Sebastian Vettel.

READ MORE: Christian Horner makes bombshell Masi Abu Dhabi 2021 admission

Lauda and Mercedes made Horner bid

Horner claims at the time he and Mercedes non-executive chairman Lauda spoke frequently, notably about the team's potential signing of one Lewis Hamilton.

He takes up the story, revealing: "Maybe our interactions over Lewis had stuck with him because later that year, during the Christmas break, Niki came to my house and asked me to join Mercedes as his team principal. I was caught off guard."

Lauda 'laid out a series of dazzling numbers'

This was a real sliding doors moment for Horner, with Lauda offering what he describes as a 'dazzling' salary that Red Bull would never be able to match.

Horner continues: "Leaving Red Bull had never crossed my mind. When he then laid out a series of dazzling numbers, I realised he was discussing my potential salary. ‘Red Bull will never pay you what Mercedes can,’ he said.

‘I respect you as a racer. I want you to come. Besides, Helmut [Marko] is a miserable b******'."

Horner thought about the offer, and then refused it, forcing Lauda to go in a different direction. One which would set the scene for one of the sport's greatest rivalries in recent memory.

"I listened to his offer and shook my head. At that point, Sebastian was at the peak of his powers and Red Bull were in the ascendancy.

"‘Niki, I’ve been winning World Championships with Red Bull,’ I said.

"'I’ve built everything from scratch. I feel a loyalty to Dietrich and the team. So as much as I appreciate this, I’m not going to join Mercedes'.

"In the end, Niki appointed a fellow Austrian, Toto Wolff - the former Austrian and German Formula Ford driver, and an executive director at Williams F1.

"Both he and Lewis would soon be working to reverse Mercedes’s midfield fortunes. Their union was interesting but seemingly inconsequential.

"In my mind, I was helping a friend while weakening McLaren, who were our closest rivals at that time."

F1 HEADLINES: Verstappen race ruined by penalty as Horner set for public grilling

Wolff became a billionaire and Horner got sacked

While Horner and Red Bull were clearly in the ascendancy when Lauda made his bombshell offer, it would be intriguing to know if he now regrets turning it down.

Wolff would buy a third of the Mercedes team when he joined, a stake which is now worth $2billion (he sold 5 percent for $300million late last year).

Horner himself now craves that sort of arrangement as he looks to return to F1 - he wants a bigger role and he wants equity/shares in the team. Maybe he could have had that at Mercedes way back in 2013?

Instead, despite leading Red Bull to a total of 14 world championships (eight Drivers' and six Constructors') he remained effectively an employee. As showcased by his unceremonious sacking last year.

So Horner left Red Bull with a compensation package of just under £67million, but saying 'yes' to Lauda could have led to a very different storyline.

F1 HEADLINES: Verstappen race ruined by penalty as Horner set for public grilling

READ MORE: Ferrari under fire again over costly Hamilton strategy blunder

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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