Christian Horner made worrying Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc claim amid Ferrari rumours

Christian Horner has already revealed how he would manage the partnership of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc if he were to make the shock move to Ferrari.

Horner was sacked by Red Bull last Tuesday, ending a 20-year association with the Milton Keynes-based team as team principal.

The 51-year-old has been in charge of every Grand Prix that Red Bull have ever contested, with the team winning a combined 14 Drivers' and Constructors' Championships in that time.

The mid-season timing of Red Bull's announcement came as something of a surprise, despite the team having had a major downturn in form over recent weeks.

Horner has been replaced by Racing Bulls CEO Laurent Mekies, and will now serve a period of gardening leave until the end of 2025.

That means he cannot take another role in F1 until next season.

There has been growing uncertainty regarding the position of Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur in recent weeks, with Horner having been linked as a possible replacement.

The Scuderia do generally promote from within - or at least appoint those with prior connections to the team, as in Vasseur's case - meaning it remains to be seen whether the Englishman would be a realistic candidate in the event of a possible vacancy.

But Horner has already commented on how he would manage current Ferrari drivers Hamilton and Leclerc.

Both will be aiming to win the 2026 world championship if the Scuderia build a car capable of challenging for wins, having not done so this season.

Speaking in an interview with talkSPORT in December, Horner said: "The reality is, the expectation is for Max [Verstappen] to win.

"A team like Ferrari next year, for example, are going to have two drivers that are going to be taking points off each other - and which horse do you back?

"You have to back both of them, but that sometimes becomes divisive within a team. Different teams have different approaches."

Horner will no doubt have preferred to been able to use Ferrari's approach this season.

Hamilton and Leclerc have indeed taken points off each other on occasion, such as at the Miami Grand Prix, when the two drivers were twice asked to swap positions when they could potentially have finished higher.

However, Ferrari are in second place in the Constructors' Championship on 222 points, with Red Bull comfortably behind in fourth on 172.

Max Verstappen has scored a staggering 165 of those 172 points, with team-mates Liam Lawson and his replacement Yuki Tsunoda simply unable to extract performance out of the second car.

Verstappen too, at times, has complained about the drivability of the car and is reportedly in talks with Mercedes about potentially joining them for 2026.