Ted Kravitz believes one F1 driver could have won a title at Ferrari if Christian Horner was there

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Christian Horner has once again been linked with Ferrari in recent days. The legendary Red Bull team boss is now a free agent after finalising his split with the team.

Horner was relieved of his duties in July after 20 years at Red Bull, where he helped the team win eight drivers’ titles and six constructors’ championships. Ferrari aren’t an obvious contender to sign him, despite their on-track struggles, because they’ve only recently renewed the contract of Fred Vasseur.

But the ‘very emotional’ John Elkann is now eyeing Horner once again, according to reports. Vasseur’s deal runs until the end of 2027.

Horner is being ‘wooed’ by Elkann, but it’s unclear if a move is realistic. Midfield teams may offer a less complicated, if less exciting, route back into F1 for the Briton.

Ted Kravitz says Sebastian Vettel missed Christian Horner’s ‘guiding hand’ at Ferrari

Writing in his book, F1 Insider: Notes from the Pit Lane, Sky Sports analyst Ted Kravitz suggested that Sebastian Vettel could have been a champion at Ferrari had he brought Horner with him from Red Bull.

Vettel took on Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes dynasty in 2017 and 2018 but fell away in the second half of both campaigns. No driver has won more races for Ferrari without lifting the championship trophy.

Kravitz says that then-Ferrari boss Maurizio Arrivabene couldn’t offer the ‘consistent leadership’ Horner and Helmut Marko had provided at Red Bull. With Vettel on a ‘looser rein’, he started to become more ‘impetuous’ and error-prone.

“Vettel left Ferrari at the end of 2020 with an impressive tally of 14 wins, but no world championship,” Kravitz wrote. “There were many reasons why it didn’t work out. I felt one was that he missed the firm guiding hand of Christian Horner, and the even firmer hand of Helmut Marko.

“At Ferrari, the drivers are very much the stars, and at the time, the bosses kept them on a much looser rein than Seb was used to at Red Bull. There was a lack of consistent leadership.

“Marco Mattiacci had signed Vettel, but he was moved aside shortly after, and his successor, Maurizio Arrivabene, had enough on his plate finding his own way, so he tended to leave the drivers to it.

• READ MORE: Sebastian Vettel ‘kept quiet’ about the long-term issue that’s wrecking Lewis Hamilton’s first season at Ferrari

“Mistakes started to creep into Seb’s game, costing him points over the 2017 and 2018 seasons, and he started showing a level of impetuousness that hadn’t been in evidence at Red Bull.

“It is often evident at Formula 1 teams that drivers’ behaviour is affected by the example of the team boss. If drivers have a strong boss that they respect and are a little bit scared of, they tend to stay in line.

“If they have a weak boss that they’re not afraid of, then they’re much more likely to do as they please.”

Why Christian Horner would have to wait over a year to take over at Ferrari

As noted by Marca, Ferrari have ‘never’ performed a ‘u-turn’ on a team boss midway through a season. Mattia Binotto resigned at the end of 2022, while Arrivabene’s departure was announced in the off-season.

Continuing that philosophy, Vasseur will be given until the end of the 2026 season, the first of a new era, to prove himself.

Horner can return to work from next spring under his agreement with Red Bull. It’s unclear if he’ll be willing to wait until the following winter to begin a new job, without any certainty that an opportunity will arise at Ferrari.

Unless the two management figures can somehow co-exist or Elkann breaks with tradition, then it may be a case of the timelines not working out.