Christian Horner has been the one constant figure at Red Bull since the team joined F1 back in 2004. However, Helmut Marko revealed that last year, Horner was close to leaving Milton-Keynes and joining Ferrari, but a bumper contract extension offer convinced him to stay in the end.
After Max Verstappen won the 2021 drivers’ championship, Red Bull’s goal became to win the constructors’ title the next year. Horner, whose contract was up at the end of the season, reiterated his desire of continuing with the team that became a part of his life. Nevertheless, Ferrari tried their best to make the Briton change his mind and move to Maranello. In the end, Horner did stay behind.
However, Red Bull’s chief advisor Marko talks about the time when Horner almost left Red Bull in 2022 to lead Ferrari after Mattia Binotto’s dismissal.
Christian Horner almost ended up becoming Mattia Binotto’s dismissal
After Ferrari crumbled in their championship fight due to strategy errors and decision-making blunders in 2022, Binotto parted ways with them. The Scuderia was in search of a new and reputed team principal, who knew what it took to guide a struggling team to championship glory. Unsurprisingly, Horner’s name was top on their list.
️ ” ?”
️ “Not really…”
Christian Horner has distanced himself from reports linking him with the Ferrari team principal role ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/ZtMvLXSHzi
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) December 5, 2022
Horner did not publicly state that he wanted to join Ferrari, but Marko insists that he was close. It took the 79-year-old a lot of effort to change his mind and convince him to stay in the end. However, it didn’t come cheap as Horner had to be paid ‘millions’ more, according to Marko.
“It took me another whole night to convince Horner to stay at Red Bull,” the Austrian said as quoted by GrandPrix.com. “And it cost us millions more.”
Marko didn’t give an exact figure while revealing the millions he had to spend on keeping Horner at the team. However, the 49-year-old’s current contract lasts until the 2026 season, and he earns a salary of $12,000,000 annually.
Not the first time Ferrari tried to steal a top Red Bull engineer
Ferrari trying to steal away a top Red Bull engineer isn’t something new. Adrian Newey, who is one of the smartest minds to ever work in F1, was reportedly offered a very lucrative deal by the Italian outfit back in 2014.
Newey, who earns $10,000,000 a year in Milton-Keynes could have earned twice as much with Ferrari. Nevertheless, the man who is often regarded as the main brain behind Red Bull’s glittering success, decided to stay behind.
Horner on the Ferrari / RB engineers rumors: “There are plenty of speculation. Will there be a hostage exchange for Laurent Mekies. We don‘t have any hostages so in terms of personnel moving to Ferrari. Certainly in the senior or medium level there is nothing planned.”
— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) May 5, 2023
Newey rejecting Ferrari was down to him being familiar and comfortable in a known environment. For Horner, however, things weren’t as easy. It is often said that he has made Red Bull a part of his life, but if what Marko says was true, things could change in the future.
