Karun Chandhok names which F1 team could be Christian Horner’s ‘future destination’ after Red Bull exit

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Red Bull have sacked team principal Christian Horner after 20 years in charge, following a difficult run of races for the Milton Keynes squad.

News of Horner’s sacking made its way through on Wednesday morning, with Racing Bulls team principal Laurent Mekies set to take up his place.

It follows on from a difficult couple of weekends for Red Bull, in which Max Verstappen was crashed out of their home race in Austria and spun on the way to a podium place in Silverstone, while Yuki Tsunoda finished outside of the points.

Tensions grew between Horner and Red Bull’s Thai owners in Austria, with the latter greeting him ‘coldly’ according to onlookers.

Now they have parted ways, attention has turned to where Horner will end up, and Karun Chandhok has made one suggestion when speaking on Sky Sports News.

Karun Chandhok suggests Christian Horner could join Alpine

Despite rumours that Horner was in contact with Ferrari over a potential role as team principal, Chandhok believes he could find himself at Alpine now that they currently have a vacancy.

“Could he go to Ferrari? There were lots of rumours that they would try to hire him on various occasions. It didn’t happen. Fred Vasseur, lots of rumours about his future. Personally, I don’t think he’ll go there,” said Chandhok.

Could he end up at Alpine, you know, in terms of his personal life? He could carry on living in the UK. Does he want to uproot his entire life? Probably not. Alpine is still based in Oxfordshire, Motorsport Valley in the UK, and they’re looking for a team principal.

“They’ve hired Steve Nielsen as a team manager. Christian’s old friend, Flavio Briatore is in charge as an executive consultant. But that could be a future destination for Christian Horner. If he does choose, of course, to carry on in the pressure cooker of Formula 1.”

Alpine’s team principals over the years

Alpine have had five team principals over the years, following the departures of several figureheads, including Otmar Szafnauer and, most recently, Oliver Oakes.

It is significant instability for the team that has not won a world championship since 2006, when Fernando Alonso was driving for the Enstone-based outfit.

Steve Nielsen will join Alpine later this year and will report to executive advisor Flavio Briatore, but he isn’t explicitly going to take on the team principal role.

This is where Horner could come in with his experience of managing driver academies, while his prominence within the paddock could lend some weight to Alpine’s aspirations to get back to winning at the top.