Horner

The seven-time champion is a supporter of Vasseur, who was instrumental in signing him.

Speaking during the drivers’ news conference before this weekend’s United States Grand Prix, Hamilton said: “It is a little bit distracting for us as a team. The team have made it clear where they stand in terms of re-signing Fred.

“Fred and the whole team are working really hard on a future for the team.”

Vasseur’s contract was due to expire at the end of this season, but it was renewed just two and a half months ago.

Ferrari tend not to comment on stories about the future of the team, considering it media speculation.

But when reports linking Horner to the team first emerged in the summer, Ferrari used channels to communicate to the media that there was no truth in the claim. The company’s position has not changed since.

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu said Horner had “approached” the US-based team but added: “Nothing has gone any further. It is finished.”

Alpine managing director Steve Nielsen said the French team’s executive adviser and de facto boss Flavio Briatore was “old friends” with Horner.

Nielsen added: “I don’t know what they talk about. Everything I know is there are no plans for Christian to come to Alpine but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen.”

Williams team principal James Vowles said Horner had not approached them.

“We’re very happy with the structure we have and it’s working,” Vowles said. “I don’t see any reason to change from that.”

Horner is free to return to F1 by the middle of next year after finalising a severance package with Red Bull on 22 September.

The 51-year-old was fired as Red Bull team principal after the British Grand Prix in July.

Multiple sources at Red Bull have told BBC Sport the settlement package was worth 60m euros (£52m).

CHRISTIAN HORNER has been warned that a Formula One return with Aston Martin would “not work”.

Horner, 51, was handed a whopping £80million payout for leaving Red Bull Racing after he was sacked as team principal in July and replaced by Laurent Mekies.

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But the ex-F1 chief, formerly the longest-serving team boss in the paddock with 20 years of service which yielded 14 drivers and constructors titles, is already plotting a way back into the sport after it was revealed he was “missing” it.

Horner’s payout was less than the £110m he could have had for the full duration of his deal which had run to 2030.

But SunSport understands taking the lower offer means he is free to return to F1 as early as spring 2026.

A number of teams have been linked to Horner, including Haas, Alpine, Ferrari and Aston Martin, as he looks to also buy into a team as a co-owner.

The latter of these teams recruited Horner’s former Red Bull ally, Adrian Newey, after 19 years working together at the Milton Keynes-based team.

Design chief Newey, 66, is said to be getting “very little sleep” in his new role as Managing Technical Partner at Aston since starting on March 1 this year.

However, former Haas boss and Drive to Survive fan favourite Guenther Steiner has claimed reuniting the pair at the team’s Silverstone base would not work.

Steiner, 60, told Lottoland: “In the last year the problem between Adrian and Christian was one of the reasons why Adrian left Red Bull.

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“So, bringing Christian back, I don’t think that would work at the moment.”

He continued: “I don’t think Aston Martin need Christian right now.

“I think there was a lot of unhappiness internally, and something had to change.

“The change was Christian leaving, and they are just trying to go back to their glory days now.

“With Red Bull, we could see it during the last one-and-a-half years where every race weekend there was drama, and that has gone away.

“I think Aston Martin with the people they have in place are very well set to show what they can do under the new regulations.”

Steiner also joked he had “sent my bank details and asked him to send me some of the money” when speaking about Horner’s mega payout.

Red Bull have enjoyed an upturn in form with Max Verstappen winning the last two races in Italy and Azerbaijan.

With the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend, the flying Dutchman is looking to add the track to his list of wins for the first time in his career.

If Verstappen, who turned 28 today, wins the street race he will have won a race at every circuit on the 2025 calendar across his F1 career.

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On 9 July the team announced Horner had been “released from his operational duties”.

He was dismissed after a controversial 18 months that started when a female employee accused him of sexual harassment, an allegation that was made public in February 2024.

Horner was twice cleared of the claims, firstly after an internal investigation conducted by a lawyer, then by another lawyer who dismissed the complainant’s appeal.

In a statement on Monday Oliver Mintzlaff, Red Bull’s chief executive officer corporate projects and investments, thanked Horner for his “exceptional work”.

He added: “With his tireless commitment, experience, expertise and innovative thinking, he has been instrumental in establishing Red Bull Racing as one of the most successful and attractive teams in Formula 1.”

Horner said in the same statement that leading Red Bull had been “an honour and a privilege”.

More to follow.

Christian Horner has been sacked as Red Bull team principal with immediate effect after 20 years, the Red Bull Racing Formula One team announced on Wednesday.

The 51-year-old oversaw a period of dominance by the team, winning the drivers’ championship eight times – including the past four titles with Max Verstappen  – and adding six constructors’ crowns.

Who will replace Horner at Red Bull Racing?

Horner, who has been in charge of Red Bull since the team was formed in 2005, will be replaced by the principal of sister team Racing Bulls, Laurent Mekies.

A motorsport aerodynamics specialist, the French-born Mekies entered Formula One in the early 2000s and had stints working with Arrows, Minardi, Toro Rosso and Ferrari before joining Racing Bulls as team principal in 2024.

“I think he has a very, very good understanding of the business, having started as an engineer and then worked at the FIA,” said Fred Vasseur, current F1 team principal at Ferrari, when Mekies left the famous Italian team in July 2023.

No reason given for Horner sacking

Horner was sacked as Red Bull’s team principal with immediate effect.

The team’s official media statement, released on Wednesday, reads:

“Red Bull has released Christian Horner from his operational duties with effect from today [Wednesday, July 9, 2025] and has appointed Laurent Mekies as CEO of Red Bull Racing. Oliver Mintzlaff, CEO Corporate Projects and Investments, thanked Christian Horner for his exceptional work over the last 20 years.”

“We would like to thank Christian Horner for his exceptional work over the last 20 years,” said Mintzlaff. “With his tireless commitment, experience, expertise and innovative thinking, he has been instrumental in establishing Red Bull Racing as one of the most successful and attractive teams in Formula 1. Thank you for everything, Christian, and you will forever remain an important part of our team history.”

Martin Brundle, an ex-F1 driver, current race commentator and friend of Horner, told Sky Sports News:

“I am due to speak to Christian later. I put a message to him saying, ‘I am sorry to read this, can we have a chat before I am due to go on TV because I want to know more about it from his point of view’.

“He wasn’t able to do that. What he did say was that no reason was given to him as to why he is being released.”

A difficult 18 months for Horner

Horner’s dismissal follows a challenging period on several fronts for the team principal.

His exit from the team comes nearly a year-and-a-half after it was leaked that a female employee had accused Horner of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour. Horner was twice cleared of the claims by Red Bull headquarters, situated in Austria.

At the same time, Max Verstappen’s father, Jos, called for Horner to leave his position and claimed that the Briton’s presence could tear the team apart in a March 4, 2024, interview.

Jos told The Daily Mail that “there is tension while he remains in position”, referring to Horner.

He added, “The team is in danger of being torn apart. It can’t go on the way it is. It will explode. He is playing the victim when he is the one causing the problems.”

The early-2025 departure of Adrian Newey – the former chief technology officer of Red Bull Racing and widely considered one of the greatest motorsport designers in F1 – to rival team Aston Martin was a huge loss to the Milton Keynes-based team and to Horner personally.

Newey had joined Red Bull in 2006, just months after Horner’s appointment, with the pair forming one of the most successful F1 management partnerships in history.

How successful was Horner as Red Bull boss?

Under Horner’s leadership, Red Bull won their first world championship in 2010, with German driver Sebastian Vettel taking the first of four consecutive drivers’ titles.

Following a multiyear period of dominance by archrival Mercedes, Red Bull, this time with Max Verstappen of the Netherlands as their star driver, entered a second championship window, winning four more drivers’ titles consecutively from 2021 to 2024.

In 2023, Horner presided over the most dominant season in Formula One history, with the team winning 21 of 22 races, and Verstappen setting a new F1 record with 10 consecutive victories.

Will Max Verstappen stay at Red Bull Racing?

At the midway point of the 2025 season, Verstappen trails McLaren duo Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in the drivers’ standings and has all but conceded the drivers’ title for this season.

As far back as April 13, Verstappen was already pessimistic about the prospects of winning a fifth straight drivers’ championship.

“McLaren are not my rivals right now. I am just taking part in this world championship,” Verstappen said, as quoted by nl.motorsport.com.

When pressed further if he meant he doesn’t see himself competing for the 2025 drivers’ title, he replied: “No, I don’t.”

In recent days, and not for the first time, Verstappen has been linked with a move to rival Mercedes, possibly as soon as next season.

Brundle told Sky Sports News that Horner’s exit from Red Bull may defuse tensions, resulting in Verstappen re-signing with the only F1 team he has ever driven for.

“It makes it more likely that Verstappen will stay,” Martin Brundle said. “It became personal in Team Verstappen.”