Formula One F1 - Austrian Grand Prix - Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Austria - June 29, 2025 Alpine executive director and de facto team principal Flavio Briatore on the grid ahead of the race REUTERS/Jakub Porzycki
ZANDVOORT, Netherlands (Reuters) -Flavio Briatore has ruled out Christian Horner making an imminent move to Alpine after his recent exit from Red Bull Racing, with the Italian saying on Friday at the Dutch Grand Prix that he had not considered it.
Heading up Alpine, which is primarily owned by Renault, has been mooted as a potential next move for 51-year-old Briton Horner, who was sacked by Red Bull last month.
But Briatore, Alpine's executive director and de facto team principal following the departure of Oliver Oakes, said of the Horner links: "I'm not considering in this moment anything.
"Christian is not in Formula One in this moment anymore. I hope he comes back soon but, for the moment, he's not in the picture of Alpine."
There have been rumours of Horner uniting with Briatore and ex-Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone to buy a stake in Alpine.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said he would welcome a reunion of the triumvirate he described as "the mafia reunited".
"That would be an exciting story and would create a lot of buzz around Formula One. I think we need that. Formula One has always been about the best racing with exciting drivers and great personalities," Wolff said.
"I feel that, when you look back at the grand era of team owners and team principals - Frank Williams and Ron Dennis, Flavio, (Luca di) Montezemolo and a few others - maybe we need to work on that.
"If there was such an exciting project, these three guys coming together, all of the mafia reunited, that would give good content."
Meanwhile, Briatore admitted he and Alpine might have made an error in bringing in Franco Colapinto to replace Jack Doohan.
The Argentine has fared little better than the Australian, languishing towards the back of the grid without a point in the drivers' championship.
"We changed Doohan with Franco and maybe he has the same problem of too much pressure to be in Formula One. Maybe we put too much pressure on him," Briatore said.
"We need to consider sometimes that the driver is a human being and we need to sometimes understand exactly what's going on in the head of these, because they are young: 19, 20, 22, 23.
"It's our mistake sometimes to underestimate the human part of the driver. Maybe I missed something there in the management of the driver. Maybe it was not the right timing to have Franco in Formula One, maybe he needed another year to be part of Formula One."
(Reporting by Matt Majendie; Editing by Ken Ferris)
