Christian Horner was axed without warning by Red Bull last week, just days after the British Grand Prix where his friend Jeremy Clarkson had spoken to him at Silverstone

Jeremy Clarkson and Christian Horner spoke just days before the latter’s Red Bull F1 exit(Image: AP)

Jeremy Clarkson has opened up on the supportive message he sent to Christian Horner after the news broke of his Red Bull Racing exit. The Clarkson’s Farm star, who is a huge Formula 1 fan, also discussed who might be his friend’s next team in the sport.

Horner led the Red Bull team for 20 years, having been hired as team principal from the very start when the energy drinks giant made its first foray into F1. And huge success followed, as Horner turned a midfield outfit into one of the sport’s dominant forces, winning eight drivers’ championships and six more teams’ titles.

But his downfall came last week after wretched results at the Austrian and British Grands Prix. Days after the Silverstone race, the shock news broke that Horner had been relieved of his roles as team principal and chief executive, and placed onto gardening leave.

Clarkson knows what it is like to be suddenly shown the door after many years in an iconic role. He was a co-presenter of Top Gear for more than a decade until 2015, when the BBC chose not to renew his contract after he assaulted a producer on the show.

In his column for The Sun, Clarkson wrote: “I spent a bit of time with Christian at the Grand Prix on Sunday and it was plain he had no inkling at all that the bullet was coming. He was with his 11-year-old daughter, Olivia, whose mother had just died of eye cancer. And we mostly talked about that and how the poor little mite was coping.

“I suppose one upside of his sacking is that her dad will be around a lot more. Or will he? I sent him a text after the news of his dismissal broke, pointing out that I’ve been in his shoes in the past

“I explained that when you wake the following morning, it’s easy to think, ‘Well, that’s that, then’. But in my case, that wasn’t that. I hadn’t trodden on a snake. I’d trodden on a ladder. And I bet he does, too.”

Clarkson went on to speculate over what the future might hold for Horner, who has been the subject of interest from Ferrari on more than one occasion in the past, and who has also been linked with strugglers Alpine. He wrote: “The clever money is saying he’ll go to Alpine, but next year they will have Mercedes engines which means Christian would have to work with Silver Arrows boss Toto Wolff.

“And as those two really don’t get on, I can’t see that happening. Ferrari? Possibly, but that would mean upping sticks and moving to Italy. And dealing with Sir Hamilton. Audi is coming into the sport next year, and Cadillac. And there’s talk the Chinese are making F1 noises, and all of them would jump at the chance of getting Horner.

“The thing is, though, that as I proved after the Beeb let me go, you don’t necessarily have to do what you were doing before. I became a farmer. So on that basis, Christian Horner might re-emerge in a couple of years as an astronaut, or in an ice-cream van or as a Foreign Secretary.”