Analysis | Horner is a plague for anyone who wants to sign Verstappen

Ask the eleven teams on the 2026 F1 grid which driver they would most like to have in their car, and they would all name Max Verstappen. No team would pass up the opportunity to sign the best driver on the grid.

And who knows what will be possible once the new technical regulations are implemented and a new pecking order emerges. Perhaps Williams or Audi will be the dominant force in F1, and those teams would be attractive for Verstappen to join.

But a team with Christian Horner on board probably has little chance of securing the Dutchman's signature. Verstappen is known by now to be happy - or at least by those around him - that Horner is no longer working for Red Bull Racing. And switching to a team where Horner works seems hard to imagine.

All in all, an ambitious team will have to think carefully about whether it wants to take a chance on Verstappen. Take Ferrari, for example, what if the rumour, already repeatedly debunked, that team boss Frederic Vasseur is on the verge of getting replaced turns out to be true? Would it then be wise to sign Horner – besides the fact that Lewis Hamilton is certainly not keen on the Briton?

In any case, Hamilton's contract with Ferrari expires after 2026, and it's surely the dream of everyone in red to eventually have Verstappen in an F1 car. But with Horner in charge? Then that's out of the question.

Or take Aston Martin. Aside from the fact that Adrian Newey not only works there but is also a shareholder - and left Red Bull because of Horner -, Verstappen certainly won't be joining the British racing green coloured team if his old acquaintance from the UK is in charge.

To be fair, it's highly unlikely that any team with ambitions to sign Verstappen at any point will sign Horner. And that must be a bitter pill to swallow for the former team principal.