Horner hails 'special talent' Antonelli and eyes future Verstappen title showdown

Horner: Verstappen the finest talent I've witnessed

Christian Horner, sacked by Red Bull in July 2025, has continued to follow Formula 1 from home and recently watched Max Verstappen win in Malaysia and Singapore. Verstappen joined Red Bull from the fifth round of 2016, after just over a year in F1, and won his first race with the Milton Keynes-based outfit as an 18-year-old — remaining the youngest winner of a Grand Prix.

Horner described the victory as “fairy-tale stuff” and called Verstappen the greatest talent he has seen.

“I think it was clear from very early on in his career and certainly Formula 1 career that this was somebody with an abnormal talent — so young, but driving like a veteran with such conviction, such authority and aggression,” he said.

“His ability to get to the limit of what the car was capable of, his ability to have so much spare capacity, whilst doing that and understanding everything that was going on around him in the race with the car, tyres, you hardly had to tell him which control switches to make change to because he was already ahead of it himself.

“When he arrived with us, he was still quite inexperienced relative to others because he's only done one year in the lower formula.

“Some of his learning was done very publicly. His mental strength and aptitude and ability to deliver really high-pressure moments was something I certainly hadn't witnessed before.”

Antonelli set to rewrite the record books

Kimi Antonelli is set to break Sebastian Vettel's record as F1's youngest world champion at 20 years old, with his first opportunity to wrap up the title coming this weekend at the United States Grand Prix in Austin. This year marks the first time Verstappen has not been in a title fight since 2020.

Horner is looking forward to seeing Antonelli take on Verstappen in future seasons.

“It's still early days for Kimi. I think Kimi has done a phenomenal job this year. You can see the lessons he's learned from his rookie season applied this year. He's made a massive step and George Russell's no idiot, so to be getting on top of him is truly impressive,” he said.

“What will be interesting is, he's going to win this championship at a canter, it'll be fascinating in future years if he does get the opportunity to go head to head with Max. I think that will be fascinating. But he is undoubtedly, again, another very special talent.”