Zak Brown has voiced his scathing opinion on Red Bull team boss Christian Horner’s recent actions.
Zak Brown vs Christian Horner - the rivalry
The McLaren Formula 1 team has been enjoying a recent resurgence in form, with at least one of their drivers finishing on the podium in each of the last 8 Grand Prix.
Infact, they have had the quickest car on a number of recent race weekends, finally putting an end to the dominance of the Red Bull that nobody thought would be beaten any time soon.
This turn of pace is great news for everyone in the McLaren camp, especially their young talented drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri who have both taken their first Formula 1 wins this year.
Someone else who is undoubtedly relishing in the team’s recent success is McLaren F1 boss Zak Brown. Since he joined the team in 2016, prior to 2024 he’d only witnessed a handful of noteworthy results. On the whole his Papaya team have been languishing in the shadows of the ever-dominant Red Bull.
Despite not having been able to compete with Red Bull on the track, Zak Brown hasn’t been shy in dishing the dirt towards rival team leader Christian Horner. He was incredibly outspoken when it emerged Red Bull had broken the cost cap in 2021, and wrote a firm letter to the FIA in which he said the breaches of the financial regulations “constituted cheating”.
Then, when it emerged that a female Red Bull employee had accused Horner of sexual harassment and coercive behaviour, Zak Brown joined Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff in calling for ‘full transparancy’ for the good of the sport. Horner denied the allegations and a Red Bull internal investigation dismissed the accusation, but a second inquiry is still in progress. Zak Brown publicly said that F1’s governing the FIA should ask for full details of the investigation.
Most recently, Zak Brown said Red Bull were showing a “lack of respect” ahead of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. That was after his driver Norris clashed with Red Bull’s Verstappen at the Austrian GP, and Brown felt Red Bull hadn’t done enough to instil the correct sense of right and wrong on-track behaviour in their star driver.
Zak Brown has been one of Christian Horner’s biggest critics over the last few years, and now he’d fulled the flames of their heated rivalry even further in a new interview.
Zak Brown's latest interview
In a new interview with BBC Sport, Zak Brown has slammed Christian Horner further. When asked about their relationship, he started by saying:
“I’ve known Christian for about 25, 30 years. We used to race against each other. I would say we used to get on.”
He went on to say:
“I believe in transparency. I believe in putting your hand up when you get something wrong. The cost cap, the excuses behind that, I never really heard a ‘we just got it wrong’. I heard excuses and not taking ownership.”
Undoubtedly, Brown is referring to the lack of transparency shown by Horner and Red Bull in relation to both the cost cap breach and the recent scandal involving the female Red Bull employee. And for Brown, that’s a big issue:
“When someone breaches the cost cap, and doesn’t seem to kind of take it seriously, that’s kind of hitting the integrity and core of the sport.”
“To me, it’s not personal. It’s protecting our sport.”
Zak Brown has previously said that everyone involved in F1, from the drivers and team principals to the race crew and everyone at the factory, is an ambassador for the sport and should act accordingly. In this interview he reiterated that fact, showing how much importance he places on integrity.
“And when I see things not consistent with our values, I’m going to speak up about it because it’s important people understand where we’re coming from.
“I realise that’s not necessarily always going to be popular, or make friends with everyone in the pit lane, but as long as I’m friends with McLaren, our fans, our partners, that’s what’s most important to me.”
Historically the slanging match between the two team leaders has been fairly one-sided, with Brown usually leading the offensive. Horner hasn’t responded to these latest comments.
After Zak Brown accused Red Bull of showing a “lack of respect” following their driver’s clash at the Austrian GP, Horner’s only reply was that he “wasn’t going to dignify that with an answer.”
