BUDAPEST, Hungary — McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown believes the political battles in Formula One will be “healthier” with Laurent Mekies in charge of Red Bull instead of Christian Horner.
Horner was dismissed as Red Bull team principal after more than 20 years in charge following last month’s British Grand Prix, coming as a shock to the F1 paddock.
Brown and Horner have been at odds in recent years over matters such as Red Bull’s cost cap breach penalty in 2022, as well as technical queries over McLaren’s car.
Their rivalry was also a recurring topic in “Drive to Survive,” including an episode where Horner called Brown a “p—-” after his comments calling for greater transparency over an internal investigation into allegations of inappropriate behavior made against Horner last February. Horner has denied the allegations.
Brown poked fun at Horner earlier this year by having the words “tire water” printed on his water bottle, but said there was a serious issue with “bogus allegations” being made in the sport.
A sign in the change in relations between McLaren and Red Bull came on Sunday in Hungary, when Brown went for a meeting with Mekies before speaking with reporters.
Brown spoke to reporters after meeting with Mekies (Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
“I’m happy he’s in the role he’s in,” Brown said of Mekies. “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.
“I’m a fan of Laurent, (I’ve) known him for a long time, and I think it’ll be good to go racing against Laurent.”
McLaren has emerged as F1’s pace-setting team in the past 18 months, dethroning Red Bull at the top of the pecking order by winning last year’s constructors’ title ahead of Ferrari.
Although Max Verstappen was able to defend his drivers’ crown last year, the Dutchman has fallen far behind the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris so far this season.
Brown explained that he enjoyed the way McLaren fought against Ferrari for last year’s constructors’ title, which included moments where he and counterpart Fred Vasseur photo-bombed their rival’s post-race team race win celebrations.
“From a fans point of view, the drama, the villain stuff, works. But I also think the celebratory, fight it out on-track, kind of photobomb each other — that all just happened, that wasn’t pre-planned, I was waiting around for our photo — I think that’s really good,” Brown said.
“I think that’s a more fun way to go racing. It can be just as entertaining, as the good cop, bad cop thing. So I’m looking forward to that.
“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.
“And I think, if I look up and down pit lane now, I see us fighting each other hard, politically, but there being a line that’s not crossed. And I think that line got crossed before, and I think it was unhealthy.”
Brown thought there would be “a little bit of a change for the better” and lead to a “more collegiate” way of racing, similar to how McLaren battles against Ferrari and Mercedes.
“I also think it’s important for the benefit of the sport that we can all work together, and there’s a higher level of trust, that if we sit down and have a conversation on a topic, there can be some confidentiality to that,” Brown said.
“It’s not an automatic, ‘I’m going to use that as a political weapon.’ I think we’re going to be in a better place to be a bit more unified, and a bit more trusting that while we’re fighting now on the track, we can have a conversation about what’s good for the sport, and that won’t get manipulated away for political reasons, and taken out of context.”
Brown said he expected Horner to return to F1 as his credentials were “awesome.” But he could not recall a time when they’d had a meeting like the one he had with Mekies on Sunday.
“(It must have been a) long time ago,” Brown said. “Maybe when we were racing each other in Formula Three?”
(Photo: Erwin Scheriau/Apa/AFP via Getty Images)
