Christian Horner sees F1 return
The 2026 Formula 1 season is just around the corner and it will be the first World Championship since 2005 that will not see Christian Horner on the grid. While the now former Red Bull team principal is increasingly rumored to be close to purchasing, together with a group of entrepreneurs close to him, 24% of the shares of Alpine currently owned by the American fund Otro Capital, Juan Pablo Montoya still believes that the 52-year-old English manager would be the perfect person to put things right within the corridors of Ferrari’s Gestione Sportiva. The former Colombian driver, asked about this by the Vision4Sport portal, which deals with the sale of hospitality packages for Formula 1, however, sets as an essential condition for any leader of the Prancing Horse the possibility of working with peace of mind, without always being at risk of dismissal.
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Horner at Ferrari? Montoya’s opinion
“Honestly – Montoya explains – I believe that Ferrari would benefit from someone like Christian Horner. But they would also have to understand that they are facing two years of sh*t and that in F1 there are development programs of at least 4 years in which patience is needed. You can’t have people talking nonsense, even if journalists love it when bosses start talking nonsense. The team must be united, as seen in Mercedes and McLaren. They do a great job keeping quiet and supporting their drivers. If Kimi Antonelli crashes then Wolff says ‘Oh, he’s young, he’s brilliant. Don’t worry, we’re happy he crashed. It’s all experience’”.
Montoya then also teased the Italian newspapers, explaining how it is not necessarily Frederic Vasseur‘s responsibility when things don’t work: “Is it really his fault? I think this is Ferrari’s biggest problem… Every time something goes wrong, the boss is fired. They need to build instead of destroy and therefore, either you have people good enough to design the best car or you don’t. And, if you don’t have them, you have to figure out how to hire them. You can’t say ‘the car sucks, you’re out, we’ll hire someone else’, because the next one will come, people won’t like it and they’ll leave. They have to stop firing and moving people, leave politics at home. In McLaren and Mercedes you win and lose together, without accusations, but the Italians are fiery and so influenced by the media that it’s like saying ‘We need someone’s head on a silver platter!‘”
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Why Alpine is the best solution
Returning to Horner, Montoya still hopes to see him back in the paddock soon: “It would be great if he came back. The success he has achieved with Red Bull in all these years has been incredible. So, if he had the chance to try again, I think it would be great. And I think he knows well what it takes to do it. It’s a bit like Toto Wolff… You go in, then you put the right people in the right place and, like it or not, in the end these people will get the job done. The best choice for him? In my opinion, it would be Alpine. They have the Mercedes power unit, headquarters in England, everything else. It’s also close to Red Bull, about 20-30 minutes away. I think if he could join that team, Christian Horner could work miracles for them”.
