Christian Horner formalised his departure from Red Bull this week. The length of his gardening leave hasn’t been confirmed, but he can join a new team at some point next year.
Thus far, Horner has been linked most strongly with Alpine. It’s believed that he wants a stake in a team to consolidate his power, rather than replicating his team principal position at Red Bull.
The Alpine move seems feasible for a number of reasons. Horner has a close relationship with Flavio Briatore, and they’ve stayed in regular contact after the former’s exit.
#The team has also been underachieving for years. Forerunners Renault won the title in 2005 with Fernando Alonso, the same year Horner and Red Bull arrived.
Since then, the Enstone team have, in all of their forms, only won 13 races, whereas Horner oversaw 124 victories (and 14 titles) at Milton Keynes.
Christian Horner’s poor relationship with Toto Wolff could cost him an Alpine move
The timing appears right for Horner, too. He may be the one making the biggest decisions, but Ralf Schumacher says Briatore’s time has passed.
Alpine don’t have a team principal either, with newly-appointed managing director Steve Nielsen the closest fit. What’s more, they will sacrifice their works status next year in the hope of being more competitive.
But therein lies the problem for Horner, according to the BBC’s Andrew Benson. Their new engine partners, Mercedes, don’t particularly like the Briton, a legacy of their rivalry in the last decade or so.
Toto Wolff’s feud with Horner could preclude the kind of working relationship that Alpine would need with their supplier.
“What sort of teams could want him?” Benson said on the Chequered Flag Extra podcast. “He isn’t going to go anywhere with a Mercedes engine, I don’t think, given his history with Mercedes and Toto Wolff, who really doesn’t like him at all.
“At Ferrari, obviously the chairman, John Elkann is in control, and at Aston Martin – a name that people have bandied around, along with Alpine – Adrian Newey’s gone there.
“Why did Adrian Newey leave Red Bull and go to Aston Martin? Well, because he’d fallen out with Christian Horner, essentially. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it’s definitely a stumbling block.
“On the Alpine front, they’ve got a Mercedes engine deal.”
Renault bosses may also object to Christian Horner joining Alpine
Ironically, Horner wants to be like Wolff. The Austrian owns a third of the Mercedes F1 team, making him perhaps the most powerful figure in the pit lane.
But Renault may be reluctant to sell him shares. They currently own 76% of the team, having sold the remainder to Ryan Reynolds’ investment group Otro Capital.
Horner intensely criticised Renault when they supplied Red Bull’s engines, arguing that their checkered reliability record and fundamental power shortage was hampering the team during the turbo/hybrid era.
It seems the 51-year-old may need to extend some olive branches if indeed Alpine is his desired destination. Horner has also been linked with Haas, who have formed an intriguing technical partnership with Toyota.