Christian Horner has revealed that he and Red Bull Racing played a key role in securing a full-time return to the sport for one of their axed F1 stars.

Red Bull have had a huge turnover of drivers alongside Max Verstappen in recent years, but many of them have gone on to have stable careers and remain in the sport to this day.

It turns out that on occasion that has come after lobbying from Horner himself, and financial contributions from Red Bull.

Red Bull star prepared to leave team for better chance of winning

Liam Lawson has admitted that his future may lie outside the Red Bull organisation, as he continues to wait for a contract extension.

The Racing Bulls star is in his fourth season as an F1 driver, having put up 12 late-season appearances in relief across his first two years before driving full-time in 2025 and 2026 – albeit oscillating between Red Bull and Racing Bulls in each of those seasons.

Despite Lawson's strong season, which has seen him almost double team-mate Arvid Lindblad's points tally up to the US Grand Prix, there are still suggestions that he could be jettisoned for teenager Nikola Tsolov for 2027.

Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari could actually be favourites to win the United States Grand Prix

I know the above headline sounds silly considering the weekend Lewis Hamilton had with Ferrari in Singapore but stick with it.

Just for a recap, Hamilton chucked away an almost certain P3 at Marina Bay when he decided to ignore Ferrari's strategy and go his own way... which turned out to be the wrong way and eventually saw him stumble to P6 on tyres that had long given up their best performance.

The good news is none of that in the grand scheme of things really matters two weeks on in Austin for the United States Grand Prix.

Axed F1 boss Christian Horner confirms recent Red Bull talks

Former Red Bull boss Christian Horner has revealed he received a call from the company's CEO, Oliver Mintzlaff, after Max Verstappen's victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia earlier this month, as well as from other shareholders.

The win was Verstappen and Red Bull's first of the season, and it was a very significant one for the team.

Post-race, Horner was thanked for his role in the win, despite the fact he left in mid-2025.

Ferrari sign Mercedes technical star in significant F1 coup

Ferrari have bolstered their technical ranks with the significant signing of a key Mercedes engineer.

Jasper van Schaick has made the switch to Maranello after almost eight years with Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains, where he worked on the development of the team's power unit technology, including concepts for the latest generation of F1 regulations.