Christian Horner has held serious discussions with Chinese manufacturer BYD over launching a 12th F1 team, but he remains keen to keep his options open, ApexF1News understands.
As ApexF1News reported last week, Horner is now free to work for another team in grand prix racing after the expiration of a non-compete clause in his severance deal from Red Bull following his shock dismissal in July 2025.
The former team principal and CEO has long been linked with a return to F1, but is understood to be focusing on becoming a shareholder within a team, something that was not open to him at Red Bull.
Horner is keen on acquiring the 24% stake in Alpine, which current holders Otro Capital are looking to trade in, although he faces competition from Mercedes for that share.
He was also linked with a return to F1 with Aston Martin, but it is understood that Adrian Newey is not keen on working with Horner again, with this limiting Horner’s options to the Alpine shares or launching a 12th team.
ApexF1News understands from sources with direct knowledge of the matter that Horner was invited by Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD to talks at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday of last week, with two days of “solid meetings” taking place.
Horner met with Stella Li, the executive vice president, who held talks herself with F1 CEO and president Stefano Domenicali over the Chinese GP weekend about the company entering as a fully-fledged works start-up operation.
From Horner’s perspective, it is understood that he is willing to guide and assist BYD where possible, but is keen to still chase the 24% stake in Alpine with the financial backing for this already in place via a consortium he has pieced together.
It is understood that BYD is not looking to help him secure this and is instead focusing on its own start-up team.
Any potential BYD entry is a long shot, considering that Cadillac took three years from the FIA opening the Expressions of Interest process in January 2023 to being on the grid. The project was only saved from Andretti’s initial rejection after General Motors took over the bid.
F1 is understood to be keen for a team from China to enter the championship, but this is reliant on the FIA opening another EOI round.
Another consideration is that teams would have to countenance a further dilution of the prize fund, which would be split 12 ways rather than 11.
This was one of the key reasons why Andretti was initially rejected, as it was believed it would not add enough value to the overall prize pot to outweigh the smaller slices the existing 10 teams would receive.
There is space on the F1 grid for up to 13 teams, as per the Concorde Agreement, with the grid expanding this year back to 11 teams for the first time since 2016 after Haas joined.
Manor went bust ahead of the 2017 campaign, leaving F1 at 10 teams until Cadillac’s arrival. The last season to feature 12 teams was 2012, before HRT folded after that campaign.
Should BYD find obstacles in its path to becoming F1’s 12th team, it is understood that it could enquire into purchasing an existing team, with Haas, Aston Martin, and Racing Bulls potential options.
