What's next for Horner? 'Wolff is super scared he will become the FIA president'

Laurent Mekies’ debut as Red Bull’s new CEO and team principal can be considered a success overall, but it’s clear that it will take more to make people forget a heavyweight like Christian Horner, who led the Milton Keynes team to tremendous success.

The former team principal stepped away from the spotlight several weeks ago and is expected to remain out of action at least until the end of the season.

However, speculation is already swirling about his next move. It’s no secret that the Briton hopes to follow in Toto Wolff’s footsteps at Mercedes by taking on a higher-ranking role beyond the traditional responsibilities of a team principal.

One of the teams most frequently linked to the Leamington Spa-born manager is Alpine, with whom Horner shares a long-standing friendship. The team is still searching for a high-profile figure, despite the recent arrival of Steve Nielsen.

Appearing on the Sky F1 Show podcast after the Belgian Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg made a prediction about Horner’s future—though not without opening with one of his trademark jokes: ''Toto is super scared that Christian is going to be president of the FIA!''

The 2016 world champion then added: ''I think Alpine could make a lot of sense. (He could) get a couple of percent in a team with Bernie, with with the Briatore as the chairman and he's then CEO. I think that could make a lot of sense. I think that would be a great story.''

Recently, there has been talk of a possible partnership at Ferrari between Christian Horner and Frederic Vasseur, modeled on the leadership structure McLaren has with Zak Brown and Andrea Stella.

All these scenarios are expected to be clarified starting next year, when Horner will be free to join a new team.