Red Bull’s sudden sacking of Christian Horner has left him jobless for the remainder of 2025 and he will not be in the Formula 1 paddock at the next race in Belgium for the first time in nearly 21 years.

Sky Sports News understands Horner is serving a period of garden leave until the end of this year, so a return to F1 will only take place as early as January 2026.

In an emotional speech to Red Bull’s staff in Milton Keynes on Thursday, the 51-year-old said he will spend time with his family and stated “who knows what the future holds for me?”.

Having tried to get to F1 himself as a driver, Horner became a team boss at 25 years old in 1999 in F3000 – which is the current equivalent of Formula 2.

After success in F3000, Horner was chosen as Red Bull’s team principal when they joined the grid in 2005, becoming the youngest ever team principal in F1 aged 31, and made a team that was branded unserious into multiple championship winners.

Motor racing is in his blood and his success at Red Bull will surely make him a candidate for most teams in F1.

Horner to replace Vasseur at Ferrari?

Over the last two months, reports from the German and Italian media claimed Frederic Vasseur’s position as team principal at Ferrari was under threat.

Vasseur hit out at the Italian outlets and said he was able to cope with the situation, but suggested “disrespectful” and “very harsh” speculation over others working under him at Ferrari was destabilising the team.

In May, German publication BILD said Ferrari made “informal” contact with Horner, who dismissed the report.

“It’s always very flattering to be associated with other teams,” he told Sky Sports F1 at the end of May.

“My whole career has been spent with Red Bull and I’m absolutely committed to this team. There are so many rumours and speculations these days, it’s not even worth listening to.”

Now, Horner has time to consider Ferrari as an option if Vasseur comes under increasing pressure but Sky Sports F1‘s Karun Chandhok thinks Horner is unlikely to join F1’s most famous team

“These rumours about Ferrari kept popping up over the last decade,” he said on The F1 Show podcast.

“I do think a combination of Christian and Adrian Newey to Ferrari was a much more attractive package for Ferrari. I could see him landing at Alpine more than I could see him landing at Ferrari now.

“I think Ferrari are going to try and build their own thing. And there’s a lot of other factors coming in, at this stage of Christian’s career and life does he want to uproot everything?”

Sky Sports F1‘s Ted Kravitz also made the point that Lewis Hamilton, who has a Ferrari contract until at least the end of 2026, would likely not be impressed if Horner replaced Vasseur, who he has strongly backed.

“There’s been a lot of water under that particular relationship bridge between Lewis Hamilton and Christian Horner,” said Kravitz.

“You never know, you’ve got to work with everybody in this business, but I’m not quite sure if Lewis, having been so vociferous and backing Fred Vasseur over the last month or so, would have been happy seeing Ferrari lose Vasseur and replace him with Christian Horner.

“They haven’t exactly been constant dinner dates with each other, have they? I’m not sure that would work out and John Elkann [Ferrari chairman] might have reflect on that.

“Charles Leclerc doesn’t have any history with Christian Horner, but Lewis does a bit. Maybe that is something to consider.”

Alpine the most likely destination?

Since Oliver Oakes left Alpine as team principal in May for personal reasons, the Enstone-based outfit has seen plenty of change and Horner would surely provide a much-needed clear figurehead.

Alpine named experienced sporting director Steve Nielsen as their managing director from September’s Italian Grand Prix to oversee the day-to-day running of the team.

Although Dave Greenwood has taken over Oakes’ formal duties, Flavio Briatore is the de facto team principal but seemingly wants to be an advisor, leaving the team principal role available.

“Alpine is another British-based team, Flavio is there, with a team that’s like Red Bull,” said Kravitz.

“In fact, most of Enstone and Milton Keynes kind of joined in each other. A lot of people in Enstone are ex-Red Bull and vice versa. That would be a much easier place for Horner to go.

“I think the Ferrari option, tempting as it might have been, especially a few months ago, knowing what was going to happen today, he might have thought, ‘oh, maybe I should have taken that’. But I think he already made his mind up not to do Ferrari. And if Alpine is an option, then that’s a much better way to go.”

One drawback could be Horner’s tense relationship with what was then Renault during the early years of the turbo-hybrid era between 2014 and 2018.

Red Bull ran Renault power units but the engine often let them down with several race-ending issues and a clear performance deficit to Ferrari and Mercedes, ultimately leading to the relationship ending and Red Bull partnering with Honda in 2019.

However, plenty has changed at Renault, now called Alpine, and the team would be the most natural fit according to Chandhok.

“From where he lives, the commute to Enstone is pretty much going to be the same as the commute to Milton Keynes, so I can see that being a more likely destination,” he said.

“He and Flavio are both very old friends of Bernie Ecclestone. Bernie brought Christian to F1 when Red Bull bought the team. He was instrumental in Christian getting that job back in 2005.

“Flavio doesn’t want to be team principal. He doesn’t want to run the team day to day. He’s got Steve Nielsen there as the Managing Director but I can imagine there’s a few wheels and cogs being turned in the background for Christian to at least have a role there.”

What are Horner’s other options?

There is zero chance Horner would end up at McLaren or Mercedes, Williams have just signed James Vowles on a long-term deal and former Red Bull sporting director Jonathan Wheatley has made a great start to life at Sauber.

That leaves Haas, which perhaps is not attractive enough for Horner, and Aston Martin as options. The latter would see Horner reunited with legendary designer Adrian Newey.

Aston Martin owner Lawrence Stroll has ambitions to win world titles, so could he make a shock decision to get Horner a job at the Silverstone-based outfit? Andy Cowell only became team principal at the start of this year, so it would be harsh to remove him in that role before the new 2026 regulations when Aston Martin could become front-runners.

Sky Sports F1‘s Martin Brundle thinks Horner would want a stake in an F1 team but thinks the sport is changing with more technical people becoming team principal.

“The maverick talisman or team leaders we saw are changing. James Vowles is running Williams, Jonathan Wheatley is at Sauber, Andrea Stella at McLaren,” explained Brundle.

“We are seeing people with a huge amount of varied experience now. Maybe the overall commercial leadership and the marketing and sponsorship leaders are different people now. It’s too big for one person.

“[Instead] people who know the nuts and bolts of how a Formula 1 team comes together, how it travels, how it functions, and how it operates at its best [are in charge].”

Horner could also look outside of a team role by following in the footsteps of former Ferrari bosses Jean Todt and Stefano Domenicali who took charge of the FIA and F1 respectively.

Whatever he decides to do, it is almost certain Horner will be back in F1 in some capacity…

F1 takes a brief break before the season resumes at the Belgian Grand Prix as the Sprint format returns, live on Sky Sports F1 on July 25-27. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime.