Christian Horner learns how much money he would have to pay rivals to set up a brand new F1 team – journalist

Christian Horner is looking to return to Formula 1 after leaving Red Bull. It has now been reported that he could do so with a brand new entry.

The 51-year-old officially left Red Bull in September after being sacked as team principal after the British GP. Having a contract until 2030, Horner received an £80m payout from Red Bull to leave the team early.

Horner can return to F1 in 2026 after serving a period of gardening leave. It is believed that, for his next project, he wants to take on an ownership role, whilst also holding a stake in a team.

Alpine have been strongly linked with the former Red Bull boss, given Horner’s close relationship with Flavio Briatore. However, Toto Wolff could block Horner from joining, as he may not want his rival working with a team associated with Mercedes.

Haas are not interested in a sale after they recently emerged as an option for Horner. Amid all the speculation, reports are now stating that the 51-year-old could look to set up his own team, with talks over potential partners already in motion.

Christian Horner would have to pay rivals more than £333 million to set up a 12th Formula 1 team

Journalist Matt Beer discussed the potential of Horner joining the grid with a new team. F1 allows up to 12 teams to join the grid, with Cadillac coming as the 11th entry in 2026.

But as he notes, an entry before 2028 ‘would be unlikely’. Furthermore, Horner would have to fork out a substantial nine-figure fee to fund the project.

“F1’s governance agreement allows for up to 12 teams on the grid, which means there is, in theory, currently one vacant slot, with Cadillac joining the field in 2026 as the 11th entrant,” said Beer via The Race YouTube channel.

“To take the 12th place, Horner would need to pull together a pool of investors to help fund it, with the costs likely to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And an entry would be unlikely before 2028, even if things advanced quickly.

“While this would be the most expensive route for Horner to take, it’s equally one that would make a lot of financial sense. With current team valuations being well north of $1 billion, spending around half of that to get a team up and running would appear to be good value.

“Horner was very commercially savvy as a team boss, and having convinced plenty of major corporations to back Red Bull over the years, he may have the necessary contacts needed to find partners willing to support the project to the extent it needs.

“Sources we’ve spoken to have suggested that preliminary discussions on this front have already taken place.”

Another factor Horner has to consider is the anti-dilution fee he must pay to F1 teams for potential commercial losses. According to Beer, Cadillac handed out $450m (roughly £333m) to join the grid, and ‘existing teams want the new fee to be even higher’ under the new Concorde Agreement.

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What is Christian Horner’s best option for his F1 return?

With almost every F1 team being valued at over £1 billion, setting up a new team may have more value than investing in a current one. Ultimately, Horner has a big decision to make in the next few months about how he returns to F1.

Horner has several options on the table for him to invest in, with the likes of Alpine, Haas and Aston Martin being mentioned. Each one has its pros, but they could also be tricky for the 51-year-old to strike a deal.

As aforementioned, Haas are not willing to sell the team and could be a no-goer. Alpine may be the only team Horner wants to join, seeing it as a team he can build from the back of the grid up to the front, similar to Red Bull.

That may be his best option, but his relationship with Wolff may make it difficult for him to join Alpine. Similarly, Adrian Newey’s contract could block Horner joining Aston Martin, amid rumours of friction between the two from their Red Bull days.