Nico Rosberg says it would be a ‘great story’ if Christian Horner returned to F1 with six-podium team

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Christian Horner may well want to return to Formula 1 after losing his job at Red Bull. As it stands, though, there aren’t many obvious destinations.

A move to McLaren or Mercedes looks unthinkable, while Fred Vasseur is set for a new contract at Ferrari. Looking into the midfield, Horner’s strained relationship with Adrian Newey could make a move to Aston Martin difficult.

Horner has surprisingly been linked with Haas, but they’re only likely to appeal if technical partners Toyota mount a full takeover. Fellow automotive giants Audi have only recently appointed Jonathan Wheatley to work with Mattia Binotto.

James Vowles has just signed a contract extension at Williams, Racing Bulls are closely linked to Red Bull and Alpine only announced the arrival of Steve Nielsen this month. As they prepare to become F1’s 12th team, Cadillac have spoken to Horner, but again, Graeme Lowdon only joined in December.

Nico Rosberg suggests that Alpine is a good fit for Christian Horner

Despite the recent hire of Nielsen, Sky Sports pundit Nico Rosberg can still foresee Horner landing at Alpine. There could be a management reshuffle that allows both to co-exist.

Rosberg thinks Horner could buy a stake in Alpine and form a partnership with Flavio Briatore, who delivered championships at Enstone when the team were known as Benetton and Renault.

“I think Alpine could make a lot of sense – get a couple of percent in the team with Briatore as the chairman, and he’s then CEO,” Rosberg said on the F1 Show. “I think that would make a lot sense, that would be a great story.”

Briatore sent a heartfelt message to Horner just after his Red Bull departure was announced. The pair enjoy a strong relationship.

But there are obstacles in the way of Horner joining Alpine. He criticised majority owners Renault when they supplied Red Bull’s engines and may feel that the presence of Briatore could dilute his power.

Bernie Collins explains why Christian Horner is likely to snub FIA move

Alpine are currently bottom of the constructors’ championship, with Pierre Gasly contributing all of their points. Their season hasn’t been a disaster – they’re the highest scoring last-place team ever at this stage – but they continue to fall well short of their potential.

Rosberg’s fellow pundit Bernie Collins says Horner would relish the chance to turn Alpine around. Mercedes boss Toto Wolff joked that he could be in trouble if his longtime rival lands at the FIA, but Collins says that wouldn’t satisfy the Englishman’s competitive instincts.

“Just on the FIA point, I can imagine Toto’s fear!” she said. “I can understand that for sure.

“Christian’s the same as Max Verstappen. He’s a fighter, he loves being part of the team, he loves the competition, he wants to beat Toto. There’s that rivalry there.

“He’s not doing that in the FIA, so I can’t see him ending up somewhere like that, where he doesn’t have that competitive nature, he doesn’t have a team behind him that he can make his own, where he can show how well he’s progressed the team.

“Somewhere like Alpine is perfect because they’re a team who are not currently doing that well. To have that on your resume that you’ve turned it around, made it another great team… Christian would love the opportunity to go a team that’s not doing so well at the minute, and make it better. I think that opportunity doesn’t exist in the FIA.”