Inside Ferrari’s Christian Horner hunt – and what Geri really thinks

It was the question he did not have to think about too seriously when they first came knocking.

Twice at least in the last few years, Ferrari have been at Christian Horner’s door. They wanted him signed up before they appointed Fred Vasseur team principal in 2023.

Horner was the first of three names on the shortlist, with Andreas Seidl, then the German engineer in charge of McLaren, second, and Vasseur third. Horner definitively led the line.

They offered Horner a slice of the earth, an improvement on his £8million to 12m-a-year salary where he was, at Red Bull. Then, later, when they wondered about Vasseur’s capabilities, in the last year that is, when his results were ordinary to say the least, they tapped up Horner again. 

More money offered. Rejected once more. He was fine at Red Bull, buttressed in his belief that all his success, including 14 world titles, would insulate him from the crisis of his life: accusations of coercive behaviour to a female employee, always denied. He was twice cleared by internal investigations led by KCs.

Geri Halliwell, his former Spice Girl wife, stood by Horner throughout the turmoil. She famously walked hand-in-hand with him in Bahrain last year when the din was its loudest, and friends say she would not be against his rejuvenation in Italy. 

Horner told Ferrari’s president John Elkann he was content at Red Bull – where he would happily have stayed forever, but for being axed in July and receiving an £80m pay-off.

He could have held out for more. He had a contract until the end of 2030 but forewent the entire £110m he might have received, for that would have deprived him of the opportunity to move to a new job as ‘soon’ as April of next year.

He calculated that surrendering a possible extra £30m was a price worth paying. Which is why Ferrari can be at his door.

This brings up many questions. One, would Lewis Hamilton be secure?

Lewis, aged 40, is obviously one of the greatest drivers of all time. He asked twice – on both occasions rejected – whether he could drive for Horner.

The first instance was undertaken by his father Anthony when Lewis was trying to get into Formula One and was annoyed by his perceived slow progression. Horner was boss of Arden, his own team in lower formulas, and Lewis was frustrated.

Horner wisely told him, if to his own detriment, to a degree, that Lewis would be better off under his future mentor Ron Dennis at McLaren.

Horner later rejected his services when he came to him while frustrated at McLaren. Lewis approached him at a Canadian Grand Prix, in 2011. Horner, once more, declined the overture.

But what would Horner immediately look to do? He would, if possible, bring in Max Verstappen, aged 28 and the star man of today.

As to the question of Horner at Ferrari in the round? As a possibility?

I don’t believe for a moment he would have considered taking the job during his salad days at Red Bull – as he did not.

Too much baggage, too much politics, went with taking it on.

He knew they would always throw you under the bus when the going got tough. They have been through so many team principals in recent years it is scarcely believable.

Since 2018, they have had Marco Mattiacci, Maurizio Arrivabene and Mattia Binotto before we get to Vasseur. It has been a killing field.

Bernie Ecclestone knows a thing or two about Ferrari, having been F1’s supreme figure for so many years before handing over the reins in 2017.

‘Ferrari is a beast of its own,’ he told me.

Speaking of Enzo Ferrari, who started it all, he added: ‘He was very special and he helped me a lot. He taught me that the sport is on the table and the business is under it. Formula One is Ferrari and Ferrari is Formula One. It’s that simple. He was a genius.’

If I were Christian Horner, I’d think Ferrari were a very decent destination in many ways to relaunch a career.

But not in many others. There are sharks out to kill you there, which is why Ecclestone thought his pal Flavio Briatore was the perfect man to get the job when Vasseur landed it. Big enough and brave enough for the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.

Hamilton has found this out. It’s a cultural shock going there. As Vasseur said: ‘I don’t know if we underestimated the importance of the change.

‘He (Lewis) spent 10 years at McLaren, then 12 with Mercedes, it was a kind of continuity – two teams based in the UK with the same engine, same environment.

‘Joining is a complete change for him, in his life, the culture of the team and everything.’

Ecclestone said that the race in Monaco, and the legend of Ferrari, were the sport’s greatest adornments and mystiques.

If I were Horner, I would tread warily into those unknowns, but it might be worth it.