Zak Brown and Christian Horner — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Horner and Brown 'unaware' of dinner date SET UP with FIA president

Right out of a straight-to-streaming movie...

Chris Deeley

Wednesday 22 October 2025 09:56 Updated: 16:14

We're not saying that F1 has taken notice of its Netflix success with Drive to Survive and decided to branch out into the streaming giants' other genres. However.

A little tidbit buried in another story caught the eye of the GPFans editorial team, and if F1 isn't setting up the plot of one of those fantastically cheesy Christmas romcoms...well, judge for yourself.

Christian Horner hasn't been spotted at a grand prix since his unceremonious dumping by Red Bull in the summer, but did pop up on FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem's Instagram page recently.

Article continues under video

Horner and Ben Sulayem were out for dinner with McLaren boss Zak Brown, with the former team principal and his old rival sharing the curved sofa seat at the table.

FIA boss sets up surprise meet

How did Ben Sulayem convince two people so at odds with each other to come to a restaurant for a nice evening sit-down? Simple.

According to the Times, he didn't tell either of them that the other was going to be there.

If that isn't the most perfectly romcom-troped story to come out of F1 in the Netflix era, we don't know what is.

What comes next? Texting each other 'I can't believe he did that to both of us', bonding for a moment over being tricked by MBS? Realising they both had a nicer time than they expected? Maybe they keep talking, and Brown brings Horner in as his next McLaren team principal?

All we need now is a film title. Suggestions, as always, are welcome.

F1 HEADLINES: Late FIA penalty announced as McLaren disqualification decision made