{"id":442862,"date":"2026-01-30T11:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T11:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/442862\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T11:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T11:15:07","slug":"horner-visits-fia-ralf-thinks-alpine-deal-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/442862\/","title":{"rendered":"Horner visits FIA, Ralf thinks Alpine deal &#8216;done&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>(GMM) Christian Horner (pictured with FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem) has added further fuel to speculation about his Formula 1 future after being spotted at the FIA\u2019s Paris headquarters for talks with President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.<\/p>\n<p>The meeting comes just days after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.autoracing1.com\/pl\/468789\/formula-1-rumor-horner-has-a-war-chest-of-money-to-buy-into-alpine-team\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Flavio Briatore confirmed that Horner and his backers are among those exploring the purchase<\/a> of the 24 percent Otro Capital stake in Alpine.<\/p>\n<p>While some rumors suggest the ousted Red Bull boss could consider alternative routes back into Formula 1 \u2013 including a highly unlikely move involving Racing Bulls, or even discussions linked to a potential future 12th team slot \u2013 the Alpine scenario continues to gather momentum.<\/p>\n<p>Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher believes the outcome is already decided.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom what I\u2019ve heard, the agreement between Horner and Alpine is basically already done,\u201d Schumacher said on <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/0lUOVfnAoC2jEJvnZqKZ9P?si=dVB38_-7TNqWduFteppszA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Sky Deutschland\u2019s Backstage Boxengasse podcast<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s only a matter of time before we see Horner back in the paddock.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schumacher predicted, however, that any return would not be immediate.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat will be more around mid-season or even towards the end of 2027,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He pointed to the current complexity at Alpine, including its brand new technical relationship with Mercedes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat also has to do with the fact that Mercedes is currently involved with the team, and that Toto Wolff and Christian Horner are, logically, not exactly best friends,\u201d Schumacher said. \u201cAt Alpine, from what I\u2019ve heard, they first want calm to return. Only after that will they start thinking about structural changes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Schumacher also suggested Briatore\u2019s influence could be a complicating factor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSomeone like Christian Horner would want a real role \u2013 to be co-owner and to be present on site,\u201d he said. \u201cThat could mean Briatore\u2019s sole control changes, or even ends. And that is exactly what he does not want.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(GMM) Christian Horner (pictured with FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem) has added further fuel to speculation about his&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[441],"tags":[49,48,578,576,577,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-442862","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-formula-1","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-f1","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-formula1","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442862","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=442862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}