he former Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, who was relieved of his duties by the global drinks company after last year’s British Grand Prix, has continued to make it clear that he sees Formula 1 as unfinished business for him but would very much prefer to return as a stakeholder in a team rather than merely as an employee. To date no such opportunity has arisen, but there is a possibility that this may change shortly. An American businessman called Mark Walter owns a majority stake in the Cadillac F1 outfit via his TWG Global company, but he has indicated that he may well already be looking to sell his shareholding, even though the new team is still in its rookie year.

This may represent a perfect opportunity for Horner, who transformed Red Bull into a formidable force in the Formula 1 world after being appointed as its team principal soon after the struggling Jaguar team had been bought from Ford and renamed Red Bull. Eight Drivers’ Championship titles and six Constructors’ ones followed under his hands-on leadership, and it would be fascinating to see if Horner could work some similar magic with the yet-to-impress Cadillac operation, should he wish to do so. Cadillac is the only F1 team to have failed to score even a single point this season. Time will tell about Horner’s potential involvement, and it has to be added that there are other parties interested in acquiring Walter’s share of the new team, including the Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox baseball team, and Liverpool Football Club.

t was announced during Thursday’s media day in Brazil that the 1980 Formula 1 world champion, Alan Jones, had died aged 80 following a short illness. The Australian driver had competed for six F1 teams and won 12 Grands Prix during his career at the peak of world motorsport, which lasted from 1975 to 1986. His greatest achievements were during his time with the Williams team, and in 1980 he became Australia’s second Formula 1 world champion after Sir Jack Brabham. Jones had been a formidable competitor and a natural leader and was held in the highest regard by team boss, Sir Frank Williams, and the outfit’s technical supremo, Sir Patrick Head. Following his retirement from racing, the likeable Australian had entered the sports broadcasting world and was responsible for attracting so many of his fellow Australians to the world of Formula 1.

week ago, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton had made unwelcome headlines around the world for Ferrari as a result of their ontrack conflict in Mexico, a situation which had followed previous encounters between the pair. With simmering tension clearly still present between the duo and there being a real risk of the issue spiralling out of control, the team principal, Fred Vasseur, held a private clear-the-air meeting on Thursday evening with the two drivers.

Afterwards, Vasseur explained that he had made it unequivocally clear to both pedallers that the interests of the legendary team and its 2000 employees must always come first and ahead of any personal ambitions. For many of us, this all brought back memories of the 2016 season when Hamilton repeatedly clashed with his then Mercedes teammate, Nico Rosberg, including on the first lap of the Spanish Grand Prix when they famously managed to take each other out at Turn 3, leaving team boss Toto Wolff absolutely furious with the pair and threatening to sack them.

n a lighter note, last Wednesday Leclerc and his wife, Alexandra, were delighted to announce the birth on the previous day of their first child, a daughter named Bianca. The Monégasque driver was given official permission to miss his usual Thursday media duties in Brazil and also Friday’s opening free practice session, enabling him to spend some additional quality time with his wife and their new baby daughter at home in Monaco before heading to South America.

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