Ferrari attempted to lure Horner away "a few weeks ago."

Ferrari attempted to lure Horner away "a few weeks ago."

      "The team's performance has varied greatly."

      Ferrari considered hiring Red Bull's long-serving team principal Christian Horner just a few weeks back, according to the most widely read newspaper in Europe. "This isn't surprising," reported Bild correspondents Michel Milewski and Matthias Marburg, "especially since the historic racing team is currently in crisis." They refer to Ferrari under the leadership of current team boss Frederic Vasseur, rather than Red Bull, where Horner recently managed to avoid a scandal and leadership crisis in 2024 by a narrow margin.

      Ferrari entered this season with high expectations due to the addition of seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. However, it isn't just the 40-year-old Brit who has faced difficulties; the 2025 Ferrari car has also struggled. Nonetheless, Charles Leclerc secured a promising second place in Monaco after qualifying closely behind the pole sitter. Vasseur, however, acknowledged, "My expectations for the season haven't changed following the Monaco weekend. I believe we didn't have the best start to the championship, even though we're already a third of the way through. Our performance has been below expectations. That’s evident," stated the Frenchman. "We need to be honest with ourselves."

      Luigi Perna, a prominent Italian journalist, mentioned in La Gazzetta dello Sport that the upcoming Barcelona race, marking the end of the latest flexible front wing era, will be "crucial" for how Ferrari approaches the rest of the season. "If nothing changes there," he indicated, "Ferrari would be wiser to focus all its efforts on 2026. Vasseur stands at a crossroads. He has expressed confidence that new regulations could shift the competitive order."

      Vasseur’s higher-ups at Maranello have shown no signs of dissatisfaction with the 56-year-old since he took over from Mattia Binotto in early 2022. However, Bild suggests that there are behind-the-scenes concerns. "Bild reports that the Scuderia casually reached out to Horner a few weeks ago," the newspaper’s F1 journalists noted. "Despite Leclerc finishing second in Monaco, the team’s performance has varied significantly. This reality does not please company executives around John Elkann and makes them consider the future of Fred Vasseur."

      According to Bild, the unfortunate news for Ferrari is that Horner "doesn’t wish to leave Red Bull and won’t do so. The Brit can’t see himself working for any other team, which aligns with his decision to decline a Ferrari offer several years ago."

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Ferrari attempted to lure Horner away "a few weeks ago."

Formula 1 | According to the largest-circulation newspaper, Ferrari recently considered attempting to recruit Christian Horner, Red Bull's long-time team principal.