How Christian Horner and Ferrari feel about working together after Red Bull exit, one party is now ‘more open’ to it

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Red Bull Racing parted ways with Christian Horner as team principal in the immediate aftermath of the British Grand Prix.

Christian Horner watched on from the pit wall at Silverstone as Max Verstappen came home in fifth and Yuki Tsunoda was the final driver to take the chequered flag.

It cemented Red Bull’s fourth-place position in the constructors’ championship, with McLaren extending their lead over their fierce rivals to 288 points after another one-two for Andrea Stella’s team at Silverstone.

Ultimately, Red Bull decided to replace Horner with Laurent Mekies after more than 20 years working together.

The Belgian Grand Prix will see a host of questions fired at Mekies and both of his drivers, but another underlying point of intrigue will be where Horner turns up next.

Alpine have been linked with bringing Horner in, but another intriguing potential option for him is Ferrari.

With Fred Vasseur under pressure at Ferrari as his contract comes to an end, journalist Scott Mitchell-Malm has shared more details about the interest from both parties in creating an unlikely alliance.

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

How Ferrari and Christian Horner feel about the potential Formula 1 team principal role

Mitchell-Malm was asked on The Race F1 Podcast whether advances from other teams, including Ferrari, played a role in Horner’s removal from Red Bull.

He explained: “No, I think it’s the opposite. He’s had advances from Ferrari before, two or three summers ago.

“Quite a big pitch from Ferrari when they were looking to get rid of Mattia Binotto, and he turned them down, and apart from being very wary of what awaits you if you’re in charge of Ferrari.

“I think he has built Red Bull up; he’s in charge of everything there. He has a degree of control that he’ll struggle to get anywhere else, certainly at the time anyway. And it just didn’t appeal.

“He wanted to stay where he is, I suspect what will change now is that Horner will be more open to those kinds of conversations going forward.

“We should probably stress that Ferrari, as we understand it, haven’t made any contact with Horner and presently don’t have any intention to go for him.

“But we know that Fred Vasseur’s out of contract, there’s been pressure there.

“So it wouldn’t surprise me if that interest is revived at some point. And I think if it did come in, as far as I understand it, Horner would at least be more open to it than he was before.”

READ MORE: All you need to know about Scuderia Ferrari from team principal to factory

How would Lewis Hamilton react to Christian Horner joining Ferrari?

Some people at Ferrari see signing Horner as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity after approaching him over the role in 2022.

They eventually hired Vasseur as Mattia Binotto’s replacement instead, but they might be looking for another new team principal to try and end their increasingly long wait for a championship.

If Horner did somehow end up joining Ferrari, he would be facing a scenario he hasn’t experienced in some time.

After years of building a team around Verstappen, he would somehow have to balance the needs of both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton and their championship ambitions.

Will Buxton doesn’t think Hamilton would be happy with Horner replacing Vasseur based on how important the Frenchman was in convincing him to join the Scuderia.

A Horner-Ferrari partnership seems a long way off at this stage, but stranger things have happened in Formula 1.