Williams team principal James Vowles has acknowledged that, while former Red Bull Racing CEO and team boss Christian Horner has not approached the team from Grove in pursuit of a return to Formula 1, future conversations cannot be ruled out.
The former Mercedes man said there’s “no point closing the door” on change, though Williams is currently pleased with its structure.
Williams willing to have conversation with Christian Horner
Christian Horner rose to prominence as the man in charge of transforming Red Bull Racing into a championship-winning outfit in the challenging world of Formula 1.
From the team’s debut back in 2005, Horner was the face of the team, guiding it to secure eight World Drivers’ Championships split equally between Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen, along with six Constructors’ titles.
The news that Horner would be leaving his role at the team with immediate effect following the 2025 British Grand Prix came as a shock both to Horner himself and to the motorsport media establishment as a whole.
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The ties between Horner and Red Bull have been officially cut, as PlanetF1.com reported last month. The former boss is believed to have walked away with a $100m settlement agreement and is believed to be allowed to return to the paddock in some capacity in the latter half of the F1 2026 season.
Since his departure, Horner has been in contact with several different Formula 1 teams, including Aston Martin and Haas, though the content of the conversations between Horner and those teams is currently unclear. It is believed that, should Horner return, he would be primarily interested in more of an ownership role in order to guarantee his place in F1 for the future.
One team that Horner hasn’t approached, though, is Williams.
During the team principals’ press conference during the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, James Vowles of Williams was asked if Horner has approached Williams seeking further conversations.
“No,” Vowles replied. “Simple.”
But while Horner hasn’t reached out, Vowles wouldn’t definitively rule out a conversation with the former Red Bull man.
“I think you should always welcome a conversation,” he explained.
“There’s no point closing the door.”
However, there doesn’t seem to be a role available for Horner at the Grove-based team.
“We’re very happy with the structure that we have, and it’s working. So I don’t see any reason to make any changes to that,” Vowles explained.
Vowles himself is a fairly recent hire, taking over at Williams back in 2023 in an effort to modernize the legacy team and bring it back to competitive standards — and his success was confirmed by Carlos Sainz’s breakthrough podium at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
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