Replacing Fred Vasseur risks losing Lewis Hamilton amid Christian Horner rumours

Former Red Bull Racing CEO and team principal Christian Horner’s next career move has been the talking point of the week after the announcement of his immediate departure on Wednesday.

Having served as the Milton Keynes outfit’s only team chief over its 20-year history, Horner was sacked on Wednesday for reasons not specified. Since then, questions about the timing and the reasoning behind the abrupt move have arisen, as well as where he could move to next, with Alpine and Ferrari both being linked to the Briton.

Alpine is currently without a team principal after Oliver Oakes resigned from the position in May. Flavio Briatore, who shares a close relationship with Horner, has taken on these duties while Steve Nielsen has been appointed as managing director.

Fred Vasseur has also been the subject of speculation over his future at Ferrari. This was swiftly and firmly shut down by the Frenchman, as well as drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

Former Formula 1 reporter Will Buxton and BBC Radio 5 Live’s F1 presenter and pit lane reporter Jennie Gow discussed the possibility of Horner moving to either of these two teams during an appearance on The Sports Agents podcast. 

“I mean, honestly, no, I can’t,” Gow explained to host Gabby Logan when asked if she could see Horner joining Ferrari. “I know that Ferrari, and the word on the street was that Ferrari is being linked to maybe getting Christian Horner to come on board. I think, like Will said, that’s more of a stretch to believe that that would happen. It just doesn’t seem the perfect fit for Christian Horner.

“Whereas Alpine – Flavio Briatore – the link there, even looking at Instagram, Flavio has gone online and posted about Christian in a very respectful way. So do I see Christian and family moving across to Italy? Not really.

Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

“But maybe they’ll surprise me. And do I see Lewis Hamilton wanting to work with Christian? Not really.”

Buxton added, “I mean, it should be said – and Jenny makes a fabulous point with that – one of the key reasons that Lewis moved to Ferrari, it wasn’t just the allure of racing for the Scuderia. It was to link up once again with Fred Vasseur, who ran Lewis to his junior series championships.

“Lewis adores that man and has absolute faith in Fred Vasseur. If they replaced Fred with Christian Horner, I don’t think Lewis would be a Ferrari driver for much longer.”