Vasseur tells Horner to stop distracting Ferrari with job hunt
Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur says Christian Horner is distracting his team by openly looking for a way back into Formula 1.
Vasseur spoke after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku, where Charles Leclerc finished fourth and Lewis Hamilton finished sixth for Ferrari. The team principal — the boss in charge of running the race team — said Ferrari are now fighting for third place in the constructors' championship, the season-long points table for teams BBC.
The row follows an interview Horner gave to The Times. In it, Horner said Ferrari is the only team he would join without being given a shareholding, and described the Italian team as "the dream".
Vasseur was blunt in response. He said "Mr Horner is looking for a job — that everybody knows — everywhere." Asked if he was joking, Vasseur replied that he was very serious. Asked if he would consider working with Horner, he told reporters to ask his assistant.
He was not joking. Ferrari want quiet.
Horner was dismissed as Red Bull team principal in July 2025, after the British Grand Prix. Red Bull has never given a public explanation for the decision. Sources said the two sides later agreed a settlement worth 60 million euros (£51.5 million) BBC.
Horner had led Red Bull since 2005 and built the team into a championship winner. In February 2024, he was accused of sexual harassment and coercive, controlling behaviour by a female employee. Red Bull dismissed the accusations after two internal investigations. Horner has always denied the claims.
Leclerc had qualified second in Baku but slipped to fourth in the race. Hamilton followed him home in sixth. Those points left Ferrari short of the front-runners and focused on holding position in the teams' standings, rather than challenging for the title.
Ferrari have not won a world championship since 2008. That drought explains the pressure around Vasseur, who took charge at the start of 2023 and is now in his fourth season with the team.
For fans, this means noise off the track while Ferrari try to fix problems on it. The team want talk about tyres, strategy and upgrades. Instead, every press conference brings another question about Horner.
