F1
‘Red Bull lost its mojo after I left’: Christian Horner on his former F1 team and Ferrari ‘dream’
Christian Horner has a theory for Red Bull’s slide and Ferrari’s stagnation. Both appear to lead back to him
MPH: Will Ferrari dare to hire Horner AND fix its biggest issue?
Mark Hughes
Ferrari’s latest leadership rumour ignores two decades of history: swapping team principals won’t work until Maranello hands real power to the person in the role, says Mark Hughes
Horner has made it clear he wants Vasseur's job
Christian Horner has set the rumour mill into full boost deploy by inserting himself into discussions about Ferrari’s unsettled future. He was ostensibly just giving an interview about his forthcoming new book but inevitably the subject of his future came up and whether it might feature Ferrari in it. This comes at a time when the inevitable ‘sack the boss’ rumours about Frederic Vasseur are circulating again, just as they did last year, just as they did for all the team principals before him whenever the Scuderia has failed to win a title yet again.
Post the glory years of Jean Todt/Ross Brawn, we’ve had Stefano Domenicali, Marco Mattiacci, Maurizio Arrivabene, Mattia Binotto and Vasseur. Some have done a better job than others in the role, but the real problem isn’t the identity of the person in the role. It’s the role itself.
It comes with immense responsibility and pressure but nowhere near enough control. The real strings are always being pulled at the level above team principal, usually by management with no relevant experience or depth of F1 understanding. The pressure just gets offloaded from them onto the team principal until inevitably the circuit breaker clicks and they replace the light bulb.
The lessons of the team’s own history continue to be ignored. Full autonomy by the right racing people: fantastic success. Proxy team principals: inevitable under-delivery, always beaten by teams with a more focused and simpler structure. But they keep on changing the part rather than looking at why the part is failing.
Horner rumours are just that for now
Red Bull
Horner: fantastic success at Red Bull over two decades. He was given the budget and full autonomy and as a sharp, focused racing brain, he made the big moves without hesitation. This is the blueprint for F1 success and it’s been repeated over and over throughout history. Any other way does not work. Ferrari has, for the last two decades, tried to prove otherwise. And failed.
So the answer is Horner? He’s said it’s the only team he’d accept doing the job for without a shareholding. He’s said that the team is ‘a sleeping giant’. He was approached by executive chairman John Elkann back in 2022 and turned it down because it did not give him the required level of control and autonomy.
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The only way this would work would be the level of control given to Jean Todt/Ross Brawn by Luca di Montezemolo. Effectively, he would be saying: ‘Give me a cast iron five-year contract, a cast-iron five-year budget – and leave me alone for the next five years, regardless of what happens on track. I don’t even want to hear from you for the next five years, other than in a Christmas card. I do all the hiring and firing; I structure everything the way I want. Go back to your office and attend to all the business stuff and leave me alone. You and whoever might succeed you. All written out contractually.’
Would Elkann and his lieutenant Benedetto Vigna dare? Dare to do the right thing for the team by surrendering control? Or would they simply keep upping the financial terms to Horner until he can’t resist a glorified Binotto/Vasseur role. If the latter, then Horner will no more be able to deliver than any of the others and the cycle will repeat.
If the former, then Horner would have one last great opportunity. He’d need to make the big moves again in his recruitments, simplify its structure and get everyone involved to buy into his vision or leave. Then, Ferrari might have half-a-chance.
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