Bernie Ecclestone reveals which team he advised Christian Horner to make his F1 return with

Former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has revealed he tried to convince Christian Horner to join Ferrari following his Red Bull exit.

Horner left his position as the Red Bull F1 boss in 2025 after being relieved of his duties in July of that year.

He has since been linked with a return to the championship, either with his own team, or, more recently, by acquiring the 24% stake in the Alpine team that is currently up for sale through Otro Capital.

However, Ecclestone has a different vision for Horner, which he shared with media, including Crash.net. 

"Christian's in a difficult position anyway," said the 95-year-old. 

"Wherever he goes, if he doesn't succeed, people will say, 'Ah, Christian, you were very good when you were with Red Bull with big budgets and things like that, and that now you are not winning because of that', or something. 

"So, it's difficult for him. I speak to him quite a bit. Early on, I was trying to convince him to try and be at Ferrari."

Quizzed as to whether he expects Horner to ultimately make his F1 return with Ferrari, Ecclestone conceded: "[I] have no idea."

Ecclestone has never been shy of giving an opinion, and once again caused eyebrows to be raised when talking about FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem, commenting, 'I'm trying to think of anything he's done wrong' - this mere days after a proposal set forward by ben Sulayem to remove term limits within the FIA was approved.

Ecclestone also has further ideas for who Ferrari should sign, with Max Verstappen top of that particular shopping list. 

"I would have advised him, uh, last year, go to Ferrari," he said.