Christian Horner backed to make impact at Alpine, Flavio Briatore era is “over”

Ralf Schumacher believes F1 has no place for Flavio Briatore-style figures at the top, saying teams now need technically skilled leaders like Christian Horner.

Briatore is currently Alpine’s executive advisor, overseeing the team’s day-to-day activities.

The Italian’s sensational return to F1 was announced in June 2024.

Briatore has played an instrumental role in Alpine ditching their works engine project to become a Mercedes customer team from 2026.

He’s also a big supporter of Franco Colapinto and is pushing for him to replace Jack Doohan.

Briatore’s F1 experience stretches back to the early 1990s, leading Benetton.

Briatore signed Michael Schumacher and won the 1994 and 1995 world titles.

He would also taste success with Fernando Alonso at the Enstone-based team before being forced out of the sport in 2009 after the Crash-gate scandal.

Briatore is seen as an old-fashioned, authoritative leader, while most team bosses in the current era have an engineering background.

In an interview with BILD, Schumacher suggested Alpine would benefit from having someone like Horner in charge, rather than Briatore. 

“I think the time of figures like Flavio is over,” Schumacher said. “You need technically skilled people at the top, someone like Horner.

“Flavio could then help as an organiser and networker, as a face to the outside world.”

What will Christian Horner do next?

Red Bull announced Horner’s shock sacking ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix last month.

Horner had been Red Bull boss since the team’s inception in 2005.

Besides Alpine, Horner’s options for an F1 return are very limited, particularly as Ferrari handed Frederic Vasseur a new deal.

Sky F1 pundit Karun Chandhok hinted Horner might want a break before weighing up his options.

“Does he want a little bit of time away? He’s been in the pressure cooker of F1 for 20 years at the forefront,” Karun Chandhok said on Sky Sports.

“He’s never missed a race, famously. We’ve heard other team bosses, Zak Brown and Toto Wolff, occasionally not going to a race.

“Christian has not missed a race since he has been in charge of Red Bull at the first race in 2005. It’s been a long time, so perhaps he wants a bit of time out.”

Assessing Alpine as an option: “They’ve hired Steve Nielsen as a managing director. Christian’s old friend, Flavio Briatore, is in charge as an executive consultant.

“But that could be a future destination for Christian Horner - if he does choose, of course, to carry on in the pressure cooker of Formula 1.”