While Horner has been linked with teams such as Alpine and Ferrari, Verstappen’s future has come under intense scrutiny amid the ongoing turmoil at Red Bull Racing — despite his repeated assurances that he intends to remain loyal to the team.

Both, for different reasons, would have valid motives to move on and join another team — but would that really be the right choice?

F1 analyst Peter Windsor, speaking about the matter via his YouTube channel, believes such transfers would do little good for the sport: 'Is that what we want? I don't think we want that in Formula 1, do we?”

Verstappen remains under contract with Red Bull, and according to earlier repors from GPblog, he does not plan to exercise any potential exit clauses this summer. There is currently no sign that he intends to leave the Austrian team, particularly since he does not view Mercedes as a more appealing option at this time.

“Why would Max do that? Why not go to Aston Martin? If he leaves Red Bull, he could work with Adrian Newey. Why would he go to Russell's team then? I think he would rather go to Newey's team”, he added.

Regarding Ferrari and Horner, the Australian has been candid as well. In his view, the Italian team missed a real chance to advance by failing to secure Adrian Newey. While Horner’s move wouldn’t fully make up for that loss, Windsor suggests he could potentially attract other big names to the team.

“Ferrari might as well keep Vasseur. It's not just about the team principal anymore. It's about making the most of what they have inside”, Windsor concludes, as he emphasized that the problem in Maranello goes beyond the team principal role and involves better leveraging the internal resources available.