McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown believes Formula One’s political landscape will be “healthier” with Laurent Mekies leading Red Bull in place of the departed Christian Horner.
Horner was dismissed as Red Bull’s team principal last month after more than two decades in charge, a move that surprised the F1 paddock. His relationship with Brown had been notably contentious, marked by public disagreements over Red Bull’s 2022 cost cap breach and technical queries regarding McLaren’s car.
Their rivalry was also a recurring storyline in the Netflix series “Drive to Survive,” which documented Horner’s sharp reaction to Brown’s call for transparency during an internal investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior against him. Horner has denied the allegations.
A sign of a potential thaw in relations between the two teams emerged in Hungary on Sunday, when Brown held a meeting with Mekies.
“I’m happy he’s in the role he’s in,” Brown said of the new Red Bull principal. “I like Laurent, and I think that’ll be healthy and maybe we can get back to focusing on competition on the track. Where there’s always going to be some political aspects to the sport, I think it’s going to be healthier with Laurent.”
Brown contrasted the past acrimony with the respectful rivalry McLaren shared with Ferrari during last year’s constructors’ title fight, which he said was intense but fun.
“The celebratory, fight it out on-track, kind of photobomb each other — that’s a more fun way to go racing,” he said. “It can be just as entertaining as the good cop, bad cop thing.”
He added that the previous dynamic with Red Bull had escalated unproductively. “It went too far. There’s always going to be politicking, like trying to shut down the flexi-wings and that kind of stuff. But once you start getting into frivolous allegations, I think that’s just going too far,” Brown explained. “I think that line got crossed before, and I think it was unhealthy.”
Brown expressed hope for a “more collegiate” atmosphere in the pit lane, similar to how McLaren engages with Ferrari and Mercedes. He stressed the importance of trust, allowing team principals to discuss the future of the sport without concerns that conversations would be “manipulated away for political reasons.”
While predicting Horner would eventually return to F1 due to his “awesome” credentials, Brown could not recall having a similar meeting with him in the recent past, underscoring the shift in relations.
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