Robert Doornbos doesn’t see Christian Horner swapping the pit wall for Place de la Concorde any time soon.
The former Red Bull driver — who had a brief run with the team in 2006 before turning pundit — reckons Horner’s eventual return to Formula 1 will be on the team side, not inside the FIA. “I don’t see him returning to a role at the FIA. I can see him giving it another go as team boss, though,” Doornbos told Motorsport.com in the Netherlands.
Horner’s exit last month ended a two-decade reign that defined Red Bull’s modern era. He leaves with six Constructors’ titles and eight Drivers’ crowns, split between Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, and with Racing Bulls boss Laurent Mekies installed as his replacement as chief executive and team principal. Horner has since been removed as a director of both Red Bull Racing and Red Bull Technology Limited, closing the book on a tenure that began in 2005.
The paddock buzz is that Horner will be back — and in ownership-style mode, mirroring Toto Wolff’s structure at Mercedes. Once mooted as a potential successor to Bernie Ecclestone, Horner is unlikely to resurface on the governance side, not least with FIA presidential elections due later this year and Mohammed Ben Sulayem tipped for a second term.
Wolff, now the grid’s longest-serving team boss after Horner’s departure, couldn’t resist a jab at Spa — the first race weekend post-Red Bull’s decision — when asked where his long-time rival might land. “He could be rocking up in the FIA and then I’m really in the sh*t. You never know,” he told Sky F1 with a grin. Entertainment value aside, Wolff conceded Horner will be missed: “His track record speaks for itself.”
The pair’s rivalry was forged in the white heat of 2021, when Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton to the title in a finale still argued over in every corner of the sport. Since then, Verstappen has stacked four straight championships, Red Bull has owned the turbo-hybrid sequel, and the Wolff–Horner needle has only sharpened. Wolff recently offered a blunter review, saying Horner “often behaved like an a**hole” but acknowledging that “a real personality has left the sport — as significant as a great driver.”
Where does that leave the 51-year-old? With doors. Plenty of them. A return to team leadership — whether through a stake, a fresh project, or a rescue job — feels far likelier than a move into rule‑making. And for all the theatre of Wolff’s one-liners, he’s probably right about one thing: Formula 1 runs better with its main characters on stage, not off it.
