‘Package on the table’ for Horner at Aston Martin claim emerges

David Croft has claimed Aston Martin have left “a package on the table” for Christian Horner, but doubts the former Red Bull boss will join the team.

Horner has been linked with Aston Martin ever since rumblings emerged over the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend that Andy Cowell was to lose his job as team principal.

Aston Martin made the surprise decision to appoint legendary F1 designer Adrian Newey as their next team principal from 2026, however speculation remains that there could still be space for Horner.

BBC Sport report that Newey gave his former Red Bull colleague a tour of Aston Martin’s Silverstone factory “under cover of darkness” on Tuesday evening.

“Christian Horner, as and when he comes back to Formula 1, because I think he will come back to Formula 1, and there will be a place for him and I’m sure there will be many teams that would benefit from his championship-winning abilities,” Croft said as he discussed the situation at Aston Martin ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix.

“When he comes back he will want autonomy. He will want to make the decisions. The problems he had at Red Bull was that he wasn’t given the autonomy that he thought his experience deserved. He wants that as a stakeholder, or given free reign to do as and what he sees best at that team.

“Nobody is going to get autonomy at Aston Martin with Lawrence Stroll as the executive chairman, because Lawrence will always have his view and his opinion, that he makes very vocal, and has been successful as a businessman in the past. He’s earned the right to have that. But why employ people and go against them?

“You are not going to get that autonomy necessarily if Lawrence disagrees with you. For instance, if he did get the job at Aston Martin, one of the first things Christian might want to do is say ‘thanks very much Lance but we think there are better drivers out there’.

“That’s not going to be the case. Lance Stroll has a five-year contract at Aston Martin, so I understand, and he is seen very much for the future and his dad is not going to sanction his removal there.

“So I don’t see Christian Horner coming in, even though discussions have taken place and even though, I think a package is on the table. I don’t see that necessarily for the future.”

Newey’s new role questioned

Croft also expressed surprised at the decision to instil Newey as team principal, given he is fundamentally tasked with designing Aston Martin’s F1 cars.

“Their press release at Aston Martin said ‘this will play to Adrian’s strengths’ but Adrian has been brought in to lead the design team and to build success by designing cars, not sitting in an F1 Commission meeting sorting out HR problems,” Croft explained.

“That’s the job of a team principal but not the job that Adrian has been brought in to do. So how does that play to his strengths? There’s a big senior leadership team at Aston Martin who will pick up the slack I’m sure, but I still see this as very much a temporary thing.

“As great as Adrian has been in Formula 1, did you have him down as a team principal on your radar? Is this something he has expressed a desire for in the past? I’m not sure he has.”