Juan Pablo Montoya publicly urged Audi to hire “somebody like Christian,” praising Christian Horner’s record and warning that “people may underestimate what Horner achieved.” Sources credit Horner with eight drivers’ championships at Red Bull, and reports vary on his number of constructors’ titles (some outlets say six, others seven). Horner was sacked in July 2025 and replaced by Laurent Mekies after the British Grand Prix. He has publicly sought a comeback to F1 and is reportedly evaluating options, including buying the 24% Alpine stake controlled by Otro Capital. He has said he would only consider a role with full control and shareholding and is reluctant to relocate.

Jonathan Wheatley stepped down between the Chinese and Japanese Grands Prix after roughly a year overseeing the former Sauber/Audi operation and is reportedly set to join Aston Martin. His departure left Audi with an immediate leadership vacuum. Mattia Binotto, Audi’s project head, has taken interim team principal duties and said he will keep the role for now but needs extra support at race weekends while he focuses on a factory transformation program. Montoya argued Audi will still need a senior, hands-on leader to support Binotto.

Sources describe several possible routes for Horner’s return, including buying the Otro Capital stake, a target also said to interest Mercedes, and say Horner insists on full control and shareholding as part of any leadership role. He faced controversies in 2024–25 that he denied and was twice cleared of. Audi has presented leadership clarity and organizational alignment as immediate priorities as it aims to compete for world championships by 2030. The team has also flagged early-season power-unit issues and recorded a points finish on its Australia debut.

McLaren said it accelerated the testing and development of 21-year-old Italian Leonardo Fornaroli after he did not secure a 2026 race seat, signing him over the winter as a reserve driver for 2026. Fornaroli, the reigning FIA Formula 2 champion who won consecutive FIA F3 and F2 titles without prior backing from an F1 junior program, will share reserve duties with IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward. Regulations require teams to give rookies two FP1 sessions, and McLaren expects Fornaroli to make his official F1 debut later in 2026.

Fornaroli completed his first on-track F1 tests in McLaren’s 2023 MCL60 recently at Barcelona and Silverstone, covering more than 900 kilometers in total, with 112 laps (512 km) at Barcelona and 68 laps (393 km) at Silverstone. McLaren described the Silverstone outing as a full-day session and an evolution of the earlier program. The tests focused on long stints with lower fuel and evaluations on hard and soft tire compounds to simulate race conditions; Fornaroli said the sessions helped him try different setups and build comfort with F1 machinery, and he reported noticeable improvements after the longer runs and setup work. McLaren noted the Silverstone run included 16 more laps than F1 drivers managed at last year’s British Grand Prix.

The team called the outings part of a structured Driver Development Program that pairs on-track work with simulator sessions at McLaren’s Woking base and trackside exposure, including attendance at the Japanese Grand Prix. Sporting director Alessandro Alunni Bravi said Fornaroli “made fantastic progress throughout” and showed consistency and a quick ability to learn. McLaren said he will have additional track outings across a variety of circuits and will support the team both trackside and in the simulator, providing significant seat time and data on how he adapts to the MCL60 under varied fuel and tire conditions.

Martin Brundle warned that autonomous, self-learning energy deployment in the new 2026 Formula 1 cars may be breaching Article 27.1 of the sporting regulations by undermining driver control and making race decisions for drivers.

Speaking on The F1 Show and Sky Sports F1, Brundle said the power units appear capable of overriding driver inputs and argued regulators must examine whether that behavior contravenes the rule that the driver must drive “alone and unaided.”

He called the current power delivery architecture “fundamentally flawed” and said “drivers should not be surprised by a car’s behavior.”

Mercedes and McLaren will run a two-day Pirelli tire test at the Nurburgring on April 14-15. The outing will bring current-era F1 cars back to the circuit for the first time since the 2020 Eifel Grand Prix.

Pirelli describes the sessions as a technical tire program and the test has been promoted informally as a “Spring Break” Mercedes test. One report named Mercedes drivers as George Russell and Kimi Antonelli and McLaren drivers as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, split across the two days; another source said drivers had not been confirmed, though both teams are expected to divide duties across the test days.

The sessions will run on the Nurburgring’s GP layout and are scheduled as non-competitive tire work to provide data for Pirelli’s development program. Several sources said the work will focus on dry compounds after recent Pirelli running at Suzuka, but Pirelli has not formally confirmed whether sessions will target wet or dry tires and can artificially wet the surface if required. The GP layout’s 17 corners, large run-off areas and advanced monitoring make the track well suited to precise data gathering as teams evaluate tire behavior, car setup and long-run performance to inform future compounds and construction.

The Nurburgring outing replaces a planned pre-season wet trial in Bahrain and fills on-track time lost after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grands Prix and the Bahrain test were canceled. Reports linked those cancellations to missile strikes tied to the US and Israel offensive on Iran. Organizers and supporters hope the return of top-level cars will strengthen calls to reinstate the Nurburgring on the official F1 calendar, and the work will give drivers preparation ahead of the championship resuming at the Miami Grand Prix on May 3.