Christian Horner as F1’s next team owner? Where former Red Bull boss might land in 2026

Christian Horner’s settlement with Red Bull leaves the door open for an F1 return at some point in 2026, but might a completely new team represent the best opportunity for the British executive to start afresh?

Red Bull confirmed Horner’s departure from the team two weeks ago, marking the end of a leadership that had elevated both man and team into the upper echelons of the record books in Formula 1’s history.

Christian Horner’s unfinished business in F1

Having been removed from operational duties following the British Grand Prix, the Milton Keynes-based squad formally parted ways with Horner after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, weeks on from Horner being removed from his directorships across the various Red Bull companies in its F1 operations.

The exact details of the settlement have not been revealed, but it’s understood Horner did compromise on the figure in order to free himself up for an earlier F1 return than where split discussions initially started. The 51-year-old is believed to have been awarded a figure of around $100 million (£74.2 million GBP), with the ability to return to competition by the end of the first half of the F1 2026 season.

Having spent over 20 years leading Red Bull’s F1 team, turning the squad into multiple Constructors’ Champions across two separate periods of domination that resulted in consecutive titles for Sebastian Vettel (2010-2013) and Max Verstappen (2021-present), Horner has thrown himself into family life in recent months, heading off on holidays in Croatia and Scotland with his wife and family, but is eager to return to competition when the opportunity arises.

To that end, identifying the right opportunity will be paramount, and a key difference this time around is likely to be that Horner will seek a shareholding ownership position wherever he ends up, rather than repeating the same cycle of becoming a highly valuable, but ultimately easily replaced, employee.

But what about taking that a step further, could Horner actually look for a completely new challenge by way of going back to his racing roots and establishing a completely new F1 team?

Could Christian Horner build a brand-new F1 team?

This would represent a very different scale of challenge for Horner, but could be a possibility to be explored for a man who, by all accounts, has unfinished business in F1 but has already achieved plenty as a CEO and team boss.

With 124 Grand Prix wins behind him, second only to Ron Dennis, Horner’s proven track record makes him an attractive proposition for investors to get behind, and it’s understood the British executive has already had several meetings with interested parties in this regard.

Such an enterprise would not be the work of a few months, with Cadillac’s arrival on the grid taking a few years despite initially passing FIA stress tests at the conclusion of the last expressions of interest process, while still in its Andretti iteration.

However, this was primarily due to commercial rights holder Formula One Management’s reluctance to admit the Andretti team, and it’s believed FOM is eager to see Horner, as a box-office character, return to the grid, and that Horner may have already held some initial meetings with CEO Stefano Domenicali to discuss his pulling together a new outfit.

Horner has experience in establishing a racing team, having set up Arden with his father, Gary, in the 1990s, which led to his initial venture into the Red Bull operation a few years later. Arden has raced in almost every junior category of single-seaters and has won multiple championships over its 28 years of competition.

Setting up an F1 team in the 2020s represents a vastly different challenge, particularly financially, but his nous on the commercial front may prove invaluable when it comes to pulling together the investment required – a task that could be made easier given the availability of fellow commercial marketing and communications heads from Red Bull, who were released from the team at the same time as him.

Horner wouldn’t be the only former F1 team boss looking to this route, with former Force India and Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer also looking to this avenue – it could mean that, when the next expressions of interest process is held, it comes down to Horner vs. Szafnauer, with potentially a large Chinese manufacturer, for example, like BYD, putting in applications.

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem believes FOM would approve a substantial team bid from China, telling PlanetF1.com at a select media round-table earlier this summer that, “If there is a team from China, let’s say, and FOM approved it, and I am 100 per cent they will approve it, wouldn’t it make more money with China coming in? I believe, yes.

“Do we have to fill up [the grid] with a 12th team for the sake of filling up [the grid] with a 12th team? No. It will be the right team. The time will come when we feel it is right to open an Expression of Interest.

“We are not here to upset the other teams, but it won’t be just for the sake of doing it. It has to be worth it.

“For us, the [12th] team has to add value to sustaining the business of Formula 1, and the business of Formula 1 is not about the income, it’s about the longevity of the championship itself.”

With BYD, through its Yangwang sub-brand, setting numerous new performance records across the production car industry, it could be that the Chinese manufacturer could very well target an F1 application upon the next opening of expressions of interest – would Horner choose to go up against such an application, or would teaming up with such an entity make more sense for all involved?

What about Aston Martin?

If building a new team outright isn’t the right path for Horner, joining an existing squad is the next option.

On paper, all the pieces for Lawrence Stroll’s overhaul of the former Jordan/Force India squad are already in place for the revolutionary F1 2026 season, suggesting that the timing of a Horner appointment right now might not be optimal.

With the experienced and level-headed Andy Cowell in place as CEO and team boss, bringing Horner into the fold could tread on his toes somewhat, although team owner Lawrence Stroll has already shown a willingness to place top-level personnel together via his numerous technical appointments over the past two years.

Stroll has also shown a willingness to tempt the right people by way of shareholding offerings, such as what was used to help seal the deal on Adrian Newey’s signature as managing technical partner – could Horner also be offered a small share alongside a salary if Stroll was serious about landing his man?

This one could be a particularly tempting scenario for Horner, given that it would essentially put him in familiar territory – not only would he be back working with Newey and Honda, but would be doing so while in charge of brand-new facilities thanks to Stroll’s relentless capital investment.

Stroll and his Yew Tree Consortium have pumped in some £600 million as investors, with the F1 operation now valued at over £2 billion. If Stroll does ever want to cash in on his investment, he could slowly but surely divest himself of his position within Aston Martin, with Horner and/or others slowly ramping up their own ownership stake.

Horner’s relationship with Newey, despite speculation otherwise, is understood to still be quite close, with the two men, and their families, socialising for nights out, such as at an Oasis concert at Wembley, while Horner’s relationship with Honda at Red Bull remained intact – the Japanese manufacturer’s own uncertainty over its future was what led to a split, leading to the creation of Red Bull Powertrains, rather than a mutual desire to break up.

Horner arriving at Aston Martin in the near future would mean that he would, essentially, inherit a project that has been pulled together by others, at least to start off.

In the medium to long-term, of course, expertise like Horner’s could prove invaluable to Stroll’s operation. But is Horner worth potentially upsetting Cowell for, having managed to tempt the British engineer out of F1 sabbatical to oversee his team just over 12 months ago?

Aside from the metrics of on-track success, Horner’s proven marketability and willingness to play political games could play a part here. This is an area where Cowell has been tested less – would he be willing to lob grenades at his rivals when things get contentious? Horner certainly isn’t afraid to be a thorn in the side of fellow team bosses and has also proven mentally able to be seen as a pantomime villain, potentially a huge plus as it bolsters the strength of a team in battle, while also creating headlines – something chief marketing officer Jefferson Slack could find very useful for helping to land new partners.

Speaking on Thursday in Singapore, Cowell refused to outright deny an arrival of Horner, but did suggest Aston already has a “strong setup”.

“Christian’s record speaks for itself,” Cowell said. “You know he’s a great competitor.

“I guess it’s down to Christian to work out what he wants to do. He might want to walk away from the sport, he might want to do something else in the sport, but that’s down to Christian, isn’t it?

“I think we’ve got a strong setup and we’re marching forward with that. We’re a relatively young team. We’ve got great facilities, and we’re developing the tools. We’ve taken on strong people like Adrian, and Enrico [Cardile].

“And with Lawrence [Stroll]’s vision, and with the sponsorship revenues that are coming in, I think we’ve got a pretty strong team.”

Rather than it being one or the other, could Stroll find a way to make the structure work with having Cowell and Horner alongside each other?

Alpine

Alpine has just started down a new path in the past month, having brought on board former F1 and FIA (and formerly Renault, Benetton, Tyrrell, Honda, Toro Rosso, and Williams) man Steve Nielsen as managing director.

Flavio Briatore, whose official title is that of executive advisor to Renault CEO Francoise Provost, is the de facto boss over Nielsen, but, at 75 years old, may not be the best-equipped person for a long-term future.

Briatore and Horner are friends, meaning that it’s not unthinkable to imagine the pair teaming up in a sort of transitional phase as Briatore hands over the reins to Horner.

There have been plenty of question marks about the future of Alpine/Renault in Formula 1 in recent years, particularly following the decision to close down the F1 engine operations at Viry-Chatilion and become a customer team.

The official position, as recently reiterated by Provost following his succession of former CEO Luca de Meo, is that the Alpine F1 team is not for sale, but shares have been sold off to investors in recent years.

In 2023, Otro Capital, RedBird Capital Partners, and Maximum Effort Investments took 24 percent of the team for €200 million. This valued the operation at around €800 million, a figure that has likely skyrocketed since then, representing a good return for these investors after two and a half years if they wished to divest.

While ‘disarray’ is the wrong word to use to refer to any team on the grid nowadays, Alpine is the one closest to being without a clear direction in recent years. The availability of someone like Horner, both in terms of operational expertise and marketing nous, could be just the tonic Enstone needs, particularly following the gut punch of stepping back to customer status after being a historic and prestigious autonomous manufacturer.

If Horner and Briatore’s friendship did lead to Horner finding a new home at Alpine, it would be akin to his arrival at Jaguar in late 2004. While Enstone’s factory has seen plenty of investment in recent years, it hasn’t quite been on the same scale as the overhauls seen at the likes of Aston Martin.

What does seem likely about this particular scenario is that, given the current relationship between Briatore and Horner, it’s an option likely to be explored in some detail.

More on Christian Horner from PlanetF1

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Haas

Gene Haas’ eponymous team has been plugging away in the midfield for a decade now, moving up and down the field throughout the years with some tidy designs mixed in with the less competitive.

The public position from Haas is that there is no desire to sell the team outright, as speculation occasionally arises, with team boss Ayao Komatsu saying in July that Haas constantly turns away offers.

“I don’t know everything, but in the last 18 months, he’s had numerous offers to buy the team,” Komatsu said.

“He’s not interested. He really enjoys being the owner of the F1 team. Currently, one out of 10, from next year, one out of 11. That’s such a privileged position to be in.

“He came in at a time when F1 wasn’t like this. He stuck with us during such a difficult period of COVID. Now he’s enjoying it.”

Komatsu reiterated that he and the team are “grateful that we have such a passionate owner, so committed.

“He’s not interested in selling at all. I can tell you, recently I had some people really pushing to buy it — not interested. He even got annoyed that these guys are asking so many times.”

Given the optics of these statements that Haas is being asked to sell outright, this begs the question of whether he’d be interested in divesting some of that ownership in order to capture someone like Horner.

Komatsu has proven something of a revelation in team leadership since taking over from Guenther Steiner at the beginning of 2024, with the Japanese engineer proving instrumental in landing a pivotal Toyota partnership that has immeasurably bolstered the efforts of Haas – including the beginning of a TPC programme, and the roll-out of a state-of-the-art sim.

On Thursday in Singapore, Komatsu said Horner has already reached out to Haas to make some initial contact, although it’s understood this may somewhat overstate the nature of the approach. The context of this meeting is believed to have been that an intermediary between Horner and a representative of Gene Haas reached out to both sides to establish contact, rather than it having been direct contact from Horner to Haas.

“Yes it’s true that he approached us,” he said. “And then one of our guys had an exploratory, let’s say, a talk. Then that’s it. Then nothing’s gone any further.”

Komatsu stressed he did not wish to “fuel” the story any further, but Horner’s reaching out to Haas, rather than the other way round, is further evidence that he is keen for a quick return to the sport he spent more than two decades in.

Given the impressiveness of Komatsu, could Horner and Komatsu form a CEO/team boss arrangement that has become the norm across many teams in recent years? Think Zak Brown/Andrea Stella at McLaren, Peter Bayer/Laurent Mekies at Racing Bulls, or, on a variation of that, Mattia Binotto/Jonathan Wheatley at Audi.

What about the rest of the grid?

For the remainder of the grid, it would appear things would have to change in a major way for Horner to find a way in.

For instance, at Williams, the ongoing investments from Dorilton Capital suggest confidence in its own path, and James Vowles as team boss has hit his stride. Given the upward momentum, Williams isn’t a team that appears to need someone like Horner.

Likewise, this is the case at Audi, where the German manufacturer has plumped for the leadership structure of Mattia Binotto as chief operating officer and Jonathan Wheatley as team principal. It’s a promising partnership, and one that is only getting started. However, Audi has shown previous interest in external investment, having sold a “significant” minority stake to Qatar’s Investment Authority (QIA) last year – might there be the potential to purchase a stake there in time?

Red Bull’s second team, Racing Bulls, could have been said to have been a potential target up until two years ago, with the shareholders having discussed the best path forward for the Faenza-based squad. Agreeing on a branding overhaul and refresh alongside a change in management, this revolution has worked, and there are no signs that Red Bull has any interest in selling any part of this team. Ironically, the success of this overhaul can also be pointed back to Horner and his part in landing Visa and Cash App as sponsors, as well as the ousted group marketing and commercial officer, Oliver Hughes.

Cadillac could well prove an interesting proposition further down the line, but Dan Towriss has already firmly “shut down” speculation of an approach to capture Horner, with the pieces already in place for 2026 as Graeme Lowdon runs the team – Lowdon having experience from both a sporting and commercial perspective, just like Horner.

At Ferrari, Horner may well have been a target to replace Fred Vasseur at one point, but that moment has passed as Vasseur has signed a new three-year deal. Regardless, a shareholding or team ownership position at Ferrari is highly unlikely, meaning Horner would end up as an employee in a position at which Ferrari has historically shown is far from secure from one year to the next.

Finally, at Mercedes, the thought of having Horner and Wolff as co-owners at the Brackley-based squad could be strangely fascinating, given the two men’s vastly different approaches to running a team.

While the possibility could be, in theory, possible if INEOS’ Jim Ratcliffe did fancy selling up, it seems a step too far to imagine Horner and Wolff reaching a common ground sufficient to be able to work together.

There would also be the factor of pride; Horner walking into Wolff’s established team, which he spent years in battle with, wouldn’t yield much by way of reward in terms of reputation, given the optics of the structure already being in place. It’s a no-win situation for both Wolff and Horner, in terms of ego and pride, even if the circumstances did line up from a business perspective.

Also, for the sake of entertainment, it’s far more enjoyable watching behemoths such as Wolff and Horner fight as rivals, rather than the awkward prospect of watching them trying to get along as partners…

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