Steiner tips Horner for Sky F1 gig as post-Red Bull future takes shape
Christian Horner has officially split from Red Bull Racing, and while the paddock wonders which garage he might stroll into next, Guenther Steiner thinks there’s a more immediate home for him: the Sky F1 studio.
Steiner, who made his own smooth pivot from the Haas pit wall to the TV gantry, reckons Horner would be a “perfect” fit for the broadcaster. It’s not a wild take. Love him or loathe him, Horner brought box-office presence to every race weekend — and you could argue that sort of needle has been missing since he left the scene.
Horner’s departure was sealed in late summer, shortly after the British Grand Prix, with his exit formally confirmed later on. Reports suggest a sizeable settlement, and crucially, the door appears open for a return to the sport at some point next year. For now, the 51-year-old is keeping his head down. No active paddock conversations, no public shopping for a seat on the pit wall. Family time, as the line goes.
Steiner, speaking on the Red Flags podcast, floated TV as a clean re-entry point. “He’s British, and he knows the sport very well,” he said, adding that Horner would slide naturally into Sky’s coverage, which anchors live F1 in the UK and Ireland and feeds a number of international markets. And Steiner would know: he’s turned the blunt, behind-the-scenes candor that made him a Netflix fan favorite into television’s version of parc fermé access.
But even he suspects Horner’s longer-term compass points back into a team. Old habits, old instincts. “I think Christian is trying to get somewhere in a team again,” Steiner said. The advice that followed sounded more like a paddock mentor than a pundit: take a breath, don’t jump at the first offer, assess the landscape.
If you’re Sky, though, you absolutely make that phone call. Horner on the mic would be a needle-mover — a charismatic ringleader with 15 years of title-winning baggage and a long memory. He’s sparred with drivers, marshalled designers, navigated boardrooms and occasionally gone 12 rounds in front of the cameras with rival bosses. Imagine him on a qualifying show, coolly deconstructing a strategy misfire. Imagine him across the paddock from Toto Wolff with a microphone instead of a debrief to get to. Must-see TV.
On track, Red Bull have hardly fallen apart without him. Max Verstappen has kept the scoreboard ticking with wins and heavy points hauls, the sort of relentless output that tends to file down the sharper edges of any off-track drama. But the broadcast product? Different story. F1 has plenty of top-tier analysts, yet very few figures who can genuinely bend the narrative arc of a weekend with a single line. Nico Rosberg does it. Jacques Villeneuve does it. Horner would do it — with more recent, more relevant intel and, crucially, contacts still on speed dial.
There’s also the optics. Horner moving into the media — even part-time — would signal he’s not racing to throw himself at the first team job dangled his way. It would give him leverage, buy him time, and keep him present in the conversation as 2026’s power unit regulations reshape the grid’s ambitions. Teams like decisiveness, but they love information more.
Of course, this all hinges on appetite. After the intensity and controversy that followed him through the first half of last season and into his exit, Horner may prefer the quieter route back. Or he might simply fancy a year without a headset. The man’s been in the firing line since some of today’s drivers were in karts.
Still, the opportunity is there. Sky’s platform is huge, the audience is savvy, and Horner’s view of the sport — tactical, political, mischievous — would land with the people who care most. And if you think F1 doesn’t miss a bit of theatre when the visor’s up and the engines are off, just listen to what his old rival Wolff said recently. “A real personality has left the sport,” the Mercedes boss admitted. Controversial? Often. Significant? Without question.
Whether Horner’s next act is behind a pit wall or in front of a camera, don’t expect him to stay off-stage for long. Few operators have his feel for the room, or his timing. And TV, like F1, rewards both.
