{"id":391704,"date":"2026-01-06T12:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T12:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/391704\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T12:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T12:24:09","slug":"f1-news-today-christian-horner-contact-revealed-as-team-swoop-for-axed-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/391704\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 News Today: Christian Horner contact revealed as team \u2018swoop&#8217; for axed star"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Four-time F1 champion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-drivers\/max-verstappen\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Max Verstappen<\/a> has revealed that he remains in contact with former boss Christian Horner.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nVerstappen shared in his end of season Viaplay interview that it has been &#8216;difficult&#8217; for the duo to share the same bond over the phone following Horner&#8217;s immediate sacking from Red Bull back in July.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nVerstappen and Horner had previously built up a great relationship, with the Brit having been the champion&#8217;s boss since 2016.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\n\u27a1\ufe0f  <a title=\"READ MORE\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-news\/1072406\/max-verstappen-red-bull-christian-horner-contact-difficult-f1-sacking\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE<\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-teams\/haas\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Haas<\/a> linked with return for axed F1 star and it&#8217;s thanks to Toyota<\/p>\n<p>\nHaas F1 team are being linked with a swoop for axed Alpine star Jack Doohan as his future at Alpine remains unconfirmed.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nDoohan was displaced from his role at Alpine just six races into his rookie season, sitting out the rest of the 2025 championship entirely.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nBut with Doohan linked with a move to Super Formula for 2026, a partnership between Haas and Toyota has meant the Australian driver is also being linked with a return to F1 in a reserve driver role.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\n\u27a1\ufe0f  <a title=\"READ MORE\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-news\/1072344\/haas-return-axed-f1-driver-jack-doohan-toyota\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE<\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>FIA forced to make F1 qualifying change for 2026<\/p>\n<p>\nThe FIA have been forced into a qualifying rule change for the 2026 F1 season.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nFor several years, the format for grand prix qualifying has remained the same, with five drivers being eliminated from Q1, five drivers from Q2, before a shootout between the 10 remaining drivers for pole position.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nHowever, the arrival of two more drivers in 2026 means that format has had to be tweaked, with the FIA Sporting Regulations confirming that, while there will still be three sessions &#8211; Q1, Q2 and Q3 &#8211; there will be six drivers being eliminated from the first two sessions.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\n\u27a1\ufe0f  <a title=\"READ MORE\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-news\/1072505\/fia-f1-qualifying-change-2026-22-drivers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE<\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Ralf Schumacher claps back over &#8216;jealous&#8217; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-drivers\/lewis-hamilton\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lewis Hamilton<\/a> claim<\/p>\n<p>\nRalf Schumacher has hit back at accusations of being &#8216;jealous&#8217; of Lewis Hamilton&#8217;s success. &#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nIn a recent interview with German media, Schumacher responded to a question over whether he is affected by drivers attempting to beat the record of his legendary brother Michael, who won five consecutive drivers&#8217; championships.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nMichael&#8217;s record remains unmatched after Verstappen was beaten by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-drivers\/lando-norris\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Lando Norris<\/a> in 2025, but his brother Ralf shrugged off suggestions the preservation of the record is meaningful to him, calling claims that he is jealous of the likes of Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton &#8216;complete nonsense&#8217;.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\n\u27a1\ufe0f  <a title=\"READ MORE\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-news\/1072391\/ralf-schumacher-claps-back-lewis-hamilton-f1-jealousy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE<\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>F1 chief had yacht CONFISCATED but you will never guess how he got it back<\/p>\n<p>\nBernie Ecclestone has recalled the time infamous F1 team boss Flavio Briatore&#8217;s yacht was confiscated by authorities, and the unusual route which led to recovering it. &#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nThe 95-year-old was speaking to German newspaper Bild last year when he recounted the story, having begun discussing the &#8216;four real friends&#8217; he&#8217;s had in his life.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nAnd there is an incredible story about the way in which they managed to get it back that is rather telling of the life of an F1 supremo.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\n\u27a1\ufe0f  <a title=\"READ MORE\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-news\/1072385\/f1-chief-yacht-confiscated-bernie-ecclestone-flavio-briatore\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE<\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>I think people are wrong about Max Verstappen<\/p>\n<p>\nLet\u2019s start this one off with a simple proposition. &#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nHe might not have won the championship, but 2025 was the year that Max Verstappen showed he\u2019s finally matured as a racing driver.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nThat\u2019s something that a lot of pundits said in the second half of last year, with even departing Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko saying of the Dutchman on his way out the door: \u201cHe hardly ever has any lapses or outbursts, which were, of course, present in the early stages.\u201d&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nIt\u2019s also&#8230;unconvincing.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\n\u27a1\ufe0f  <a title=\"READ MORE\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-news\/1072434\/max-verstappen-maturity-opinion-f1\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE<\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n<p> Zhou Guanyu signs for Cadillac<\/p>\n<p>\nFormer full-time F1 driver Zhou Guanyu has joined a new team for 2026, days after leaving the position as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-teams\/ferrari\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ferrari<\/a>&#8216;s reserve driver.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nZhou previously raced full-time in F1 with the Sauber team, driving for the Hinwil-based outfit for three full seasons.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\nHowever, after a 2024 season in which he only managed to score four points from 24 race weekends, Zhou was axed from the team and snapped up by Ferrari as a third driver, behind Lewis Hamilton and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-drivers\/charles-leclerc\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Charles Leclerc<\/a>.&#13;<\/p>\n<p>\n\u27a1\ufe0f  <a title=\"READ MORE\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gpfans.com\/en\/f1-news\/1072501\/former-ferrari-f1-star-zhou-guanyu-cadillac-reserve-driver\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Related\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four-time F1 champion Max Verstappen has revealed that he remains in contact with former boss Christian Horner.&#13; Verstappen&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391705,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,1883,578,3629,576,577,3631,7935,44,1882,3630,82],"class_list":["post-391704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-christian-horner","tag-f1","tag-f1-news-today","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-gpfans","tag-haas","tag-news","tag-red-bull","tag-sam-cook","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391704","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391704"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391704\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}