Herbert: Ferrari missed out on Newey, must get Horner

Le Mans and Grand Prix winner Herbert believes Ferrari need proven leadership capable of attracting top technical talent and building a winning culture, something Horner achieved at Red Bull.

Herbert said: “Like anything, you need to be able to attract the right personnel to be able to give you a chance of having the fastest car. I am sure there was a push to try and get Adrian Newey to join and maybe there should have been a bigger push for that to happen.

“I like Fred Vasseur a lot, but maybe you need to get someone who's been able to create a winning formula. And that potentially points to Christian Horner.”

Herbert believes that while Ferrari have addressed past operational weaknesses, they continue to lack the spark that transforms a good team into a dominant one. Their prime target has to be Christian. The team has all the ingredients they need.

"They just haven't been able to put them together. They've got the drivers so there's no argument on that front. They have probably overcome a lot of those mistakes, pit stop mistakes, strategy mistakes that they used to make,” he explained.

Herbert argued that Ferrari’s car lacks the raw pace to consistently fight McLaren and Red Bull, blaming the absence of the right leadership structure: "The pure raw pace of the car is not there. So, you need someone, but they still haven't been able to attract the people that they need to be able to produce the car that is good on track.

"Adrian left McLaren and went to Red Bull where he was given the freedom by Christian. He created the environment in which Newey was able to breathe and flourish.

“Once you’ve got Adrian breathing freely and easily, you get the best out of him. And that's what Ferrari haven't quite been able to achieve yet. They haven't got that one person who is that leader. You need the management to be able to attract that right person and then give them that freedom to do what they want.”

Herbert warned that patience may run thin if Ferrari start 2026 slowly, despite Vasseur’s recent contract extension: “I know Fred signed a new contract recently, but if it really starts poorly again next year, and they’re still in the same position as they have been for the last couple of years, then something will have to be done,” he said.

The 61-year-old motorsport veteran also doubts speculation that Horner could join Aston Martin, suggesting the team’s internal structure would make such a move difficult: “I can’t see Horner at Aston Martin, there would be too much friction. There is a chance that Max will switch somewhere for 2027 if he feels that it's a better place to be. Next year is going to be a very critical year.

“Max’s comment that it's down to Red Bull to give him what he needs to stay in F1 suggests, from what I read into it, that if they can’t then he won’t be in F1. I hope I didn’t read into that the wrong way because I don't want him to leave F1.

“If he does want to leave Red Bull, I still want him to go somewhere else in F1 and one of those potentials is Aston Martin because of that Adrian link. But it would be great to have Ferrari fighting at the top of the sport again. They haven't had that something for too many years, almost 20 years since Kimi Raikkonen won the drivers’ title. It’s been far too long.”

Ferrari’s internal struggles and the failure to land Newey have intensified pressure on Vasseur’s leadership, with Herbert insisting that only a figure of Horner’s calibre can restore Ferrari to the summit of Formula 1.