Lawrence Stroll shuts door on Christian Horner joining Aston Martin

Lawrence Stroll has ruled out any possibility of Christian Horner joining the Aston Martin F1 team.

According to BBC Sport, team owner Stroll addressed Aston Martin employees earlier this week to rule out the possibility of Horner joining the team.

Aston Martin announced another management restructure ahead of next year.

Adrian Newey has been appointed team principal, while Andy Cowell has been moved to a new role focused on Aston Martin’s collaboration with Honda, their power unit supplier for 2026.

Stroll has outlined that Aston Martin plan to keep this management structure in place for next year, ruling out a move for Horner, who is out of work after leaving Red Bull.

Horner was replaced by Laurent Mekies ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, ending his 20-year tenure in charge.

Since his Red Bull exit, there has been a plethora of speculation around Horner and his possible return to the sport.

Horner has been heavily linked with a number of teams in recent months, including Aston Martin, Ferrari and Alpine.

Initially, it was unclear whether Horner could join Aston Martin amid suggestions that he had fallen out with Newey.

Horner’s off-track scandal — allegations of inappropriate behaviour by a female employee — led to a decline in their relationship.

According to the aforementioned report, Newey was also unhappy with some of his Red Bull colleagues claiming credit for his design work — something Horner reportedly encouraged.

It has been widely reported since that their relationship has been repaired, with the duo attending an Oasis concert together earlier this year.

Speaking to Sky Sports at the Qatar Grand Prix, Newey dispelled fears that his role as team principal would detract from what he’s good at.

“To be perfectly honest, it became very evident that, with the challenge of the ‘26 PU and Andy’s skillset in terms of helping the three-way relationship between Honda, Aramco and ourselves, it is absolutely his skillset,” Newey explained.

“So he very magnanimously volunteered to be heavily involved in that through the first part of ’26.

“That left a kind of, ‘OK, who’s going to be TP?’ And since I’m going to be doing all the early races anyway, it doesn’t actually particularly change my workload because I’m there anyway so I may as well pick up that bit.”