Brown pours scorn on 'unfair' Red Bull - 'Verstappen's own little empire'
McLaren CEO Zak Brown has criticised Red Bull for the way they handle their F1 operations, with a particular emphasis on what he believes is a behaviour solely focused on catering to Max Verstappen.
Verstappen is the only driver who's managed to bring home the results at Red Bull Racing in the recent era. But the gap between him and his teammates since after Daniel Ricciardo exited the F1 outfit have been alarmingly large.
For instance this season, the Dutch driver is responsible for all but 25 points registered to Red Bull's tally, which current teammate Yuki Tsunoda has scored in 19 Grands Prix, an average that comes to less than 2 points per race weekend.
Brown then cites another notable example: refusing to sign Carlos Sainz who'd become a free agent after Ferrari chose to replace the Spaniard with Lewis Hamilton, whom Brown believes was the 'obvious choice' for the current campaign.
Brown cites Red Bull's refusal of Sainz as evidence
“The other example is Max Verstappen’s rule at Red Bull. I say ‘rule’ on purpose," Brown wrote in his yet to be published book "Seven Tenths of a Second."
“Sometimes, way before Christian Horner is fired in the middle of the 2025 season, it actually feels like Max is running the team," he added.
“Everyone seems to be subservient to him. Everyone seems to be afraid of him.
“The car is tailored to Max, to a point where it seems difficult for anyone else to drive it effectively.
“Red Bull tend not to choose a second driver who will pose any threat to Max, otherwise Carlos Sainz would have been an obvious choice [for 2025].”
According to the American McLaren executive, Red Bull are more focused on catering to Verstappen's needs and wants than on anything else.
“Max is a brilliant driver and they are terrified of losing him, and the way they have chosen to do that is to keep him happy above all else," he continued.
“If that means becoming a one-man team, a driver’s own little empire, they are willing to do that.
“That’s not how I want to lead at McLaren," he clarified. "And to be fair to Ron [Dennis] and Mansour [Ojjeh] who ran McLaren for so long, that’s not the way they wanted to do things either.
“That kind of unfairness, that stifling of competition, is not part of our company ethos,” Brown concluded.
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