Zak Brown: F1’s political battles will be “healthier” after the release of Christian Horner to Bull from Christian Horner
Budapest, Hungary – CEO of McLaren Racing, Zak Brown, thinks that political battles in Formula 1 will be “healthier” with Laurent Mekies in charge of Red Bull instead of Christian Horner.
Horner was dismissed as director of the Red Bull team after more than 20 years of responsibility after the British Grand Prix last month, which is a shock for F1 Paddock.
Brown and Horner have disagreed in recent years on issues such as the Red Bull ceiling penalty in 2022, as well as technical requests on McLaren’s car.
Their rivalry was also a recurring subject of “Drive to Survive”, including an episode where Horner called Brown as “p—-” after his comments calling for greater transparency on an internal investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior against Horner last February. Horner denied allegations.
Brown made fun of Horner earlier this year by printed the words “tire water” on his bottle of water, but said that there was a serious problem with the “false allegations” made in sport.
A sign in the change of relations between McLaren and Red Bull came on Sunday in Hungary, when Brown went to meet Mekies before speaking with journalists.
Brown spoke with journalists after meeting Mekies (images Hector Vivas / Getty)
“I am happy that he is in the role in which he plays,” said Brown about Mekies. “I like Laurent, and I think it will be healthy and maybe we can start focusing on the competition on the track.
“Where there will always be political aspects of sport, I think it will be healthier with Laurent.
“I have been a fan of Laurent, (I have known him) for a long time, and I think it will be good to run against Laurent.”
McLaren has become the F1 rhythm adjustment team in the past 18 months, dethroning Red Bull at the top of the hierarchical order by winning the title of manufacturers from last year before Ferrari.
Although Max Verstappen was able to defend the crown of his pilots last year, the Dutchman fell far behind the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris so far this season.
Brown explained that he liked the way McLaren fought against Ferrari for the title of manufacturers of last year, which included moments when he and the counterpart Fred Vasseur bombed the photo of the post-course team race of their rival.
“From the point of view of the fans, the drama, the bad guys, works. But I also think that the party, fight it on the track, in a way of photobomb – that all this has just happened, which was not planned, I was waiting for our photo – I think it’s really good,” said Brown.
“I think it’s a more fun way to go to the race. It can be just as entertaining, as the right cop, the bad cop. So I can’t wait to do it.
“It went too far. There will always be politics, like trying to close flexi-wings and that kind of things. But once you start getting into frivolous allegations, I think it’s going too far.
“And I think that if I watch and go down the way of the stands now, I see us fighting hard, politically, but there is a line that is not crossed. And I think this line was crossed before, and I think it was unhealthy.”
Brown thought there would be “a little change for the best” and would lead to a “more collegial” race, similar to the way McLaren is fighting against Ferrari and Mercedes.
“I also think that it is important in favor of the sport that we can all work together, and there is a higher level of confidence, than if we sit down and that we have a conversation on a subject, there can be some confidentiality to that,” said Brown.
“It is not an automatic,” I will use it as a political weapon “. I think we are going to be in a better place to be a little more unified, and a little more confident than, even if we are now fighting on the track, we can have a conversation on what is good for sport, and that will not be manipulated for political reasons and withdrawn from its context. “”
Brown said he expected Horner to return to F1 because his references were “great”. But he did not remember an era when they had a meeting like the one he had with Mekies on Sunday.
“(It had to be a) a long time ago,” said Brown. “Maybe when we were running in formula three?”
(Photo: Erwin Scheriau / APA / AFP via Getty Images)
