LEWIS HAMILTON MEETS HORNER AMID FERRARI TALK AND TENSE RELATIONS
Could Christian Horner be Lewis Hamilton's next boss at Ferrari? Reports link the ex-Red Bull chief to the role, reviving a complex relationship from their 2005 meeting to the 2021 rivalry.
Amid rumours that Christian Horner, the former Red Bull team principal, may become Lewis Hamilton's next boss at Ferrari, the two have a complex relationship.
Horner and Red Bull have reached an arrangement that allows Horner to return to the Formula One paddock the following year.
Aston Martin, Alpine, and Haas are among the teams that have been linked to the 51-year-old, who was fired by Red Bull in July. Furthermore, there is still conjecture that Horner and Ferrari are related.
According to the Daily Mail, Ferrari chairman John Elkann is still interested in bringing Horner to the club to replace current manager Frederic Vasseur, who is being questioned in the wake of the Prancing Horse's disastrous 2025 season. Horner has previously had talks with the Italian team.
Given their icy relationship, Hamilton and Horner on the same team would make for an interesting dynamic. Twenty years ago, while Hamilton was making his way up the single-seater ranks, the two first met.
At the time, Horner was in charge of Arden, a company that oversaw teams in feeder classes, including GP2 and GP3 (now Formula 2 and Formula 3). The two parted ways after that encounter, which was not a huge success.
Before joining McLaren in Formula One the next year, Hamilton competed in GP2 for his current employer, Vasseur, in 2006. In the meantime, Horner secured the top position at Red Bull, joining Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen as constructors and drivers.
Hamilton was gushing with appreciation when asked about Horner's departure from Red Bull and his achievements in the sport earlier this year, recalling an awkward conversation between the two. "The advancement [at Red Bull] has been amazing," he said.
"I was at Arden or something when I sat with Christian in his office in 2005, hoping to get into GP2. I would not say we clicked right away!
"It was amazing to watch his development and what he accomplished with the team. It takes passion and competence to operate an organisation that large and effectively, and he contributed both to the team. I hope the best for him.
The animosity that had existed between Hamilton's Mercedes and Horner's Red Bull during the intense 2021 drivers' championship match between Hamilton and Verstappen is in sharp contrast to this display of appreciation for one another. Conflicts on the circuit and elsewhere resulted from the rivalry, which was both fascinating and poisonous.
Hamilton would not want to see a change at the top because of his long-standing friendship with Vasseur. Even though the Frenchman recently signed a new contract, the 40-year-old has enough experience to recognise that he is in a perilous position after a difficult rookie season at Ferrari.
MAX VERSTAPPEN CLAIMS POLE IN MERCEDES-AMG GT3 AMID F1 RULE CONTROVERSY
Max Verstappen lands pole in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 at the Nurburgring while slamming F1’s "Mario Kart" battery regulations.
Max Verstappen just landed pole position in a Mercedes – and he didn’t miss the chance to take another shot at Formula 1's new rules. He’s using the gap between the Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix to race in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie, getting ready for the 24-hour event in May.
He’s in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 from Winward, running under the Verstappen Racing banner, teaming up with Daniel Juncadella and Jules Gounon for this four-hour race. Their qualifying run? Verstappen's squad nailed the fastest lap: 7:51.751 around the legendary circuit.
Honestly, this weekend at the Nurburgring is a breath of fresh air for Verstappen. He’s been vocal about his dislike for F1's latest regulations, which split the power pretty much evenly between traditional engines and electric systems.
These rules are some of the biggest changes F1 has ever had, forcing drivers to constantly watch their battery levels and use a boost button for overtakes. Verstappen didn’t hide his feelings, saying about the NLS race: “At least you can drive flat out without looking after the battery.” He’s been slamming F1’s direction for months, and after retiring late in China, he was running sixth; he doubled down, calling the system “Mario Kart". It’s not racing, he said. “We’re boosting past. Then you run out of battery, and they boost back past you again. For me, it’s just a joke.”
Verstappen made it clear: it’s not about sour grapes or losing. “I’d say the same if I were winning because I care about the racing product. It’s fundamentally flawed. It’s painful. It’ll ruin the sport eventually, and it’ll come back to bite them.”
An old press conference of Verstappen warning about the 2026 regulations popped up again online. He kept going: “You could have seen this coming ages ago. They should have listened in 2023. Maybe it’s a lesson, so this doesn’t happen again. You’ve got to be careful with how you say things, but we’re talking. They know where we stand as drivers. Some love it because they’re winning, and sure, if you have an advantage, why give it up?
“But talk to most drivers; this isn’t what we want, and I don’t think real fans want it either. It’s political. Some have the edge and want to keep it. I get that; I’m not stupid. But it’s just not good for the sport. Hopefully, we'll get rid of it soon.”
DISCOVER WHY JONATHAN WHEATLEY BELIEVES RED BULL’S STRUGGLES FUEL MAX VERSTAPPEN’S OUTRAGE
Jonathan Wheatley claims Max Verstappen's criticism of the "anti-racing" 2026 regulations reflects Red Bull's early struggles.
Jonathan Wheatley thinks Max Verstappen’s harsh words about Formula 1’s 2026 rules say as much about Red Bull’s current struggles as they do about the new regulations.
Verstappen hasn’t held back at all; he’s been one of the loudest voices against F1’s new energy-harvesting era, calling the rules “anti-racing” during pre-season testing.
Just two races in, Verstappen’s only got eight points. After Shanghai, he walked away without scoring anything. He finished the sprint race in ninth just outside the points, mostly because he lost ground when his car bogged down from a lack of battery power right off the line.
Things didn’t get better in the main race. Verstappen tried to claw his way back, but he had to park his RB22 because of an ERS cooling problem.
He didn’t sugarcoat his feelings. Verstappen slammed the new energy management rules, energy harvesting, and super clipping, all of it, as “fundamentally flawed". He called the racing itself a "joke". For him, the whole thing’s starting to feel more like Mario Kart than real racing.
“I swapped the simulator for my Nintendo Switch and have been practising Mario Kart, actually!” Verstappen joked when someone asked if sim time gives drivers an advantage now. “Honestly, I’m getting good at finding the mushrooms. The blue shell’s a bit tougher, but I’m working on it. No rockets yet, but they’re coming.”
He also warned F1’s leaders that these new rules could “eventually ruin the sport; it’ll come back to bite them.”
Not everyone’s moved by Verstappen’s complaints. Juan Pablo Montoya went as far as telling him, "There's the door.” Guenther Steiner, the former Haas boss, said it came off as nothing more than “toys out of the pram when it doesn’t go his way.”
Meanwhile, things look very different for Charles Leclerc. He’s been fighting for podiums in Australia and China and is loving the new era.
“I really enjoyed it,” Leclerc said. “Yeah, sometimes the overtakes feel a little fake if someone messes up their battery management; you get this huge speed difference. But we’re all learning when to push and when to risk it, and that’s creating some great overtaking spots. Today was a perfect example.”
Wheatley, watching all this, figures opinions on the new rules depend on how well one's doing. If you ask the guys up front, Ferrari and Mercedes, they love the new racing. The teams chasing them? Not so much.
He told reporters after the Chinese Grand Prix, “Talk to the Ferrari drivers; they’ll say it was a brilliant day. If you’re not winning, you just want to be able to race cleanly. Honestly, I didn’t see anything fake; every driver was fighting hard and fair. The midfield battles are fantastic; there’s a lot to like.”
And as for Verstappen’s comments? Wheatley gets it. When you’re struggling, it’s easy to point fingers.
