F1 News Today: Christian Horner jets into Paris as Alpine move 'could happen quickly'

An F1 insider has claimed that Christian Horner's return via Alpine could happen 'quickly'.

During F1's off-season rumours ramped up regarding Horner's potential return to the sport, particularly through a purchase of the 24 per cent stake in Alpine owned by Otro Capital.

At Alpine's car launch prior to the Barcelona shakedown, team executive Flavio Briatore confirmed that Horner was interested in the stake sale.

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Christian Horner holds surprise meeting with FIA president

Christian Horner has been getting cosy with the FIA.

The president of F1's governing body, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, posted pictures of a meeting with Horner to his official Instagram page on Wednesday where the pair could be seen laughing and hugging.

The meeting was held at the FIA's Paris offices and was reportedly no more than 'a chat between friends', but it is well known that the former Red Bull team principal is in talks to buy a stake in Alpine F1 team.

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Lewis Hamilton alarm bells ringing with F1 insider shocked by Ferrari fail

Lewis Hamilton's current race engineer situation at Ferrari is ringing 'alarm bells' for one F1 insider.

Prior to the Barcelona shakedown, it was announced that Hamilton's race engineer Riccardo Adami had stepped down from the role for the 2026 season.

It is rumoured that McLaren performance engineer Cedric Michel-Grosjean is 'Ferrari bound' and will become Hamilton's new race engineer, although this is thus far unconfirmed by the team.

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McLaren issues revealed as testing cut short in Barcelona

McLaren have revealed they experienced issues with their new F1 car during the fourth day of testing in Barcelona, forcing them to cut their shakedown day short.

Thursday marked only McLaren's second of an allotted three days of testing per team across this week's five-day private event, when Australian driver Oscar Piastri took to the track for the first time.

Piastri spent most of Thursday in the garage after the team encountered issues with the MCL40, but the driver remained positive his papaya team would 'iron out the bugs' before Friday's final shakedown day.

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Is this Ferrari's year? Lewis Hamilton all smiles after Barcelona shakedown

Lewis Hamilton was grinning from ear to ear after his first day of testing in Barcelona.

The seven-time champion took over driving duties from Charles Leclerc on Tuesday afternoon for the Scuderia's first day of running at the private shakedown.

Though Hamilton had much more rain to deal with than Leclerc did at the wheel of the SF-26, the 41-year-old spoke positively of his new machinery and his first experiences piloting it.

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Williams chief claims F1 team 'could have been ready' for 2026 testing

Sky Sports F1 reporter Craig Slater has revealed that Williams' technical director Matt Harmon claimed the team could have been ready to take part in testing in Barcelona this week.

The first round of the extensive F1 2026 testing programme is well underway but Williams will not be attending any of the five potential shakedown days.

Instead, James Vowles' F1 squad will conduct virtual tests, and have insisted they will be ready for the first official round of testing in Bahrain next month.

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F1 star raced for FREE to beat team that sacked him

Cult F1 icon Heinz-Harald Frentzen has recalled the time he was willing to drive for a team without being paid just to get back at the squad that sacked him.

Frentzen raced with Eddie Jordan's eponymous team between 1999 and 2001, but was being axed midway through his final season and replaced by Jean Alesi.

To ensure he had the last laugh, Frentzen moved to Prost GP and raced for free, with his only motivation being to beat Jordan.

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Ferrari hail DREAM start to Year 2 of the Lewis Hamilton Project

Ferrari have only taken part in one of their three permitted days of testing so far in Barcelona but their Head of Track Engineering, Matteo Togninalli, has described the start of their 2026 project as a dream.

After a disappointing first year for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari in 2025, this will be good news for the seven-time champion and the team who paid millions to get him to join their ranks.

Though the Barcelona shakedown is too early to tell the pecking order of all the drivers and F1 teams in 2026, Ferrari's reliability has impressed so far.

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