Christian Horner is making a serious mistake if F1 paddock ‘whisper’ about his next team is true

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Christian Horner is being linked with a return to Formula 1 in time for the 2027 season after leaving Red Bull Racing earlier this year.

Red Bull enjoyed incredible success under Christian Horner during his 20 years in charge.

Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen won four drivers’ championships each under Horner’s stewardship, with a further six constructors’ championships added to the team’s tally since their debut in 2005.

However, Horner was replaced by Laurent Mekies after the British Grand Prix, bringing one of the longest team principal spells in Formula 1 history to an end.

Unsurprisingly, as soon as Horner’s time at Red Bull came to an end, he was immediately being linked with a return to the paddock.

Horner negotiated a shorter gardening leave period to speed up any comeback, and journalist Jon Jackson has shared what he heard at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix about which team might be lining him up for 2027.

READ MORE: All to know about sacked Red Bull team principal Christian Horner with net worth

F1 paddock ‘whisper’ suggests Alpine are lining up Christian Horner as team principal for 2027

Jackson was speaking on TalkSport’s YouTube channel about Horner’s future, and he said: “One whisper I heard in the paddock this weekend is that Christian Horner will be taking over as team principal, in some kind of potential, I guess, buyout, because I think the team of Alpine’s for sale in 2027.

“I’ve been a lot more of a man on the ground than normal, and yeah, I heard it from two different sources that this is the latest, most likely scenario.

“It could be very interesting, we’ll watch this space on that one.”

Horner is close friends with current Alpine chief Flavio Briatore, who sits above team principal Steve Nielsen in the team’s structure.

It’s been a really difficult 2025 campaign for Alpine, and while there are signs that things might improve in the future, Horner might be making a serious mistake if he decides to make his F1 comeback with the Anglo-French outfit.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage

Why Christian Horner would be making a mistake if he joined Alpine as team principal in 2027

With three race weekends to go in 2025, Alpine currently sit bottom of the constructors’ championship with no hope of overtaking their nearest rivals.

Alpine have been concentrating all of their efforts on next year’s car when F1’s regulations change.

However, Horner’s success at Red Bull was built around several extremely talented individuals, such as Adrian Newey and drivers like Verstappen and Vettel.

Pierre Gasly has had a good season, but is not the world beater that Horner requires, having previously been dropped by the 51-year-old less than a season into his spell with Red Bull.

His teammate Franco Colapinto will finally get a pre-season ahead of the 2026 campaign, but has plenty to prove as he looks set to complete this season without scoring a point.

Horner was keen for Red Bull to move away from being a customer team, but he’ll have to work closely with Toto Wolff’s Mercedes outfit if he does join Alpine due to their new power unit agreement.

It’s hard to see Mercedes and Alpine working closely based on their previous relationship which could make it even more difficult to turn the Enstone-based team into a winning outfit.

The only positive for Horner is Alpine might be willing to sell a partial stake in the team, which would appeal to the former Red Bull man.

Next season will see several teams come under pressure if they don’t nail the new ruleset, and Horner would be better off biding his time and waiting for another opportunity, rather than settling for a move to Alpine.