Christian Horner and Bernie Ecclestone tipped to join F1 'mafia' as Toto Wolff reacts

Toto Wolff has thrown weight behind a theoretical collaboration between Christian Horner, Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone at the head of the Alpine F1 team, supporting a reunion of the 'shark mafia'. Horner was sacked as Red Bull team principal in July after 20 years at the helm and 14 World Championship titles.

With links to Cadillac emphatically shut down by Dan Towriss before the Dutch Grand Prix, Alpine now looks like the 51-year-old's only reasonable destination for an F1 return. At the Zandvoort Circuit, Mercedes boss Wolff was asked what he thought about the idea of Horner teaming up with close ally and former F1 supremo Ecclestone, and current Alpine chief Briatore.

"If there was such an exciting project, these three guys coming together, all of the mafia reunited, that would give good content," the Silver Arrows' boss replied. "The shark mafia. Three sharks."

He then added: "That would be an exciting story and would create lots of buzz around Formula One. I think we need that, and Formula One has always been about the best racing with exciting drivers and great personalities. When you look back at the grand era of team owners and team principals around Frank Williams and Ron Dennis, Flavio, Luca di Montezemolo... maybe we need to work on that."

While Wolff was supportive of the idea, Alpine chief Briatore poured cold water on the rumours. "I'm not considering in this moment anything," the Italian said. "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."

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Briatore has his own problems to address heading into the final 10 races of the season. Alpine are rooted to the bottom of the Constructors' Championship standings, 15 points behind ninth-placed Haas.

Furthermore, only one of their drivers is regularly in contention for top-10 finishes. Franco Colapinto has struggled to execute on Saturdays and Sundays since replacing Jack Doohan after six Grands Prix in 2025, and with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez opting to join Cadillac, Briatore's options in the driver market are limited.

"I think I have seen everything already," Briatore said when asked about Colapinto's performances. "I don't think I need to see anything anymore. It's very difficult for a driver to cope with this car. These cars are very, very heavy, very, very quick, and for the young drivers to be put into Formula One.

"Maybe it was not the time to have Franco in Formula One. Maybe he needed another one year to be part of Formula One. I'm not happy. What is important is the result. He tried very hard, and we tried very hard with the engineers to please him with everything, but really, it's not what I expect from Colapinto."