Christian Horner unlikely to work for £1.6bn-valued F1 team after Red Bull exit over control concerns

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Red Bull Racing haven’t had the easiest time on track since Christian Horner’s departure.

Max Verstappen won the Sprint Race at the Belgian Grand Prix to get new team boss Laurent Mekies off to the perfect start.

However, Red Bull messed up Yuki Tsunoda’s strategy during the race, and Verstappen couldn’t clear Charles Leclerc to finish on the podium at Spa.

The Hungarian Grand Prix followed and Red Bull had one of their worst weekends of the season.

Verstappen’s data highlighted a worrying trend, as he could only finish P9, with Tsunoda’s pointless run extending to seven race weekends.

Many of these issues existed when Christian Horner was still in charge, and it will be years before his influence isn’t felt within the team.

However, many people believe it won’t be long until Horner is back in the Formula 1 paddock in some capacity.

Journalist Matt Majendie was discussing what he had been doing since leaving Red Bull and the chances of him taking a leadership role at either Alpine or Aston Martin.

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Majendie was talking about Horner on The Inside Track Podcast and gave more details about some public sightings of the former team boss.

He said: “So, one night, he was at the Oasis concert with Adrian Newey. So, there was all this talk that they’d fallen out, the relationship was no longer as good as it was.

“Horner had always said it was good, Newey’s godfather to one of his kids, and then they were at Oasis together.

“And then Horner was having lunch with Flavio Briatore, I think in London.

“So, there are two links there. You’ve got the Alpine story that we’ve already heard about the possibility, and then there’s the even more crazy one of Aston Martin, maybe and reuniting with Adrian Newey.

“I guess Newey reached out to Horner; he’s obviously gone through a pretty tough couple of weeks.”

Majendie was then asked which team would be more likely in his view to begin working with Horner, and he continued: “Someone said to me, the crazier ones in Formula 1 end up being true, but I just can’t see the Aston Martin one.

“Lawrence Stroll is the head honcho there; he might be selling a small stake, but he’s not going to want to give up control, and I think Horner’s next step is to buy into a team, and Alpine seems a more likely one, perhaps there.”

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Aston Martin, who are valued at £1.6bn, had their best weekend of the season in Hungary, and there are reasons to be excited about the Silverstone-based outfit.

Adrian Newey’s arrival, an exclusive deal with power unit suppliers Honda and a state-of-the-art new facility mean Lawrence Stroll’s team should be a team to look out for in the near future.

On the other side of the spectrum, Alpine are in a much tougher predicament.

The team being run by Horner’s close confidante, Flavio Briatore, are currently sitting at the bottom of the constructors’ championship.

Alpine reportedly rejected a record bid for the team, which would suggest that while they may not be up for sale, people in the industry believe they could be swayed.

Horner has been linked with partial ownership of Alpine because, as Majendie suggests, it’s hard to see him return to a typical team principal role.

However, the drama in the paddock wouldn’t be the same going forward unless Horner found a way back into the sport sooner rather than later.