Christian Horner calls Ferrari role a dream as Fred Vasseur responds to speculation

Christian Horner has said he would consider a Formula 1 role at Ferrari without an ownership stake, prompting a pointed response from the team’s current principal, Fred Vasseur. Horner’s comments establish his interest in the job, but neither BBC Sport nor Sky Sports reports an offer or appointment. For Ferrari, the immediate issue is speculation around its leadership while the team tries to improve its results.

In an interview with The Times, quoted by BBC Sport and Sky Sports, Horner called Ferrari ‘the dream’ and ‘arguably ... the sleeping giant of Formula 1’. He said it was the only team for which he would accept a role without participating in ownership. The distinction matters: Horner was describing the conditions under which he might return to a pit wall, not announcing an agreement with Ferrari.

What Horner and Vasseur said

Horner told The Times he had spent 21 years as a ‘hired hand’ on the pit wall and did not need to do that again, according to Sky Sports. His preference is for an ownership stake in any team he joins. Ferrari, he said, would be the exception. Sky also quoted him saying he did not know whether he would be back on the Formula 1 grid next year.

Vasseur, speaking after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, gave the speculation a terse response. ‘Mr Horner is looking for a job — that, everybody knows — everywhere,’ BBC Sport quoted the Ferrari principal as saying. Vasseur also said the discussion around Ferrari meant the team was ‘not working in the perfect serenity’. Those comments convey his frustration with the attention; they do not amount to an announcement about Ferrari’s leadership.

Why Horner’s name draws attention

Horner led Red Bull for roughly two decades before being removed as team principal and chief executive after the British Grand Prix in July 2025, according to Sky Sports. His teams won four straight drivers’ and constructors’ championships with Sebastian Vettel from 2010 through 2013. Max Verstappen then won four successive drivers’ titles from 2021 through 2024, with Red Bull also taking the constructors’ championship in 2022 and 2023.

That record explains why his remarks about another leading team attract notice, but it says little about the likelihood of a Ferrari appointment. Horner’s stated preference for ownership is one question; whether Ferrari wants him is another. BBC Sport’s Andrew Benson raised the issue of how much authority any Ferrari team principal could exercise alongside chairman John Elkann and chief executive Benedetto Vigna. That is an assessment of a possible arrangement, not evidence that one is being negotiated.

Ferrari’s immediate racing concerns

The leadership talk follows a Baku weekend in which Ferrari had reasons to focus on the car. In Formula 1’s published post-race team comments, Vasseur said Ferrari had expected difficulty on the circuit’s long straights and had lacked a couple of tenths per lap against its rivals on race day. He said the team had extended its advantage over McLaren in the constructors’ championship, while stressing the need to improve for the next race.

Charles Leclerc finished fourth and Lewis Hamilton sixth in Azerbaijan, according to Formula 1’s race reporting. Leclerc had qualified second, but Vasseur said fourth and sixth were the most Ferrari could achieve in the race, Formula 1 reported on 28 September. His assessment was that those finishing places still were not satisfactory. The results provide context for the pressure around Ferrari, without showing that the team intends to change its leadership.

Formula 1 also reported that Leclerc cited a lack of recent development as a factor in the team’s Baku performance. Vasseur said upgrades to the SF-26 were coming ‘soon’, without a firm date in the reporting reviewed here. Hamilton, meanwhile, pointed to difficulty bringing his tyres into the right temperature range during the Azerbaijan weekend. Those are concrete performance issues identified by the team and its drivers; the effect of future upgrades remains to be seen.