Zak Brown, McLaren CEO, believes the Red Bull Formula 1 team is proof of the internal management dilemma. But he warns that this could change quickly with long-term effects on the team.
Red Bull F1 management issues remain unresolved and public especially after the death of the owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, in 2022.
The rift surfaced between Christian Horner, the team boss, and the incoming CEO Oliver Mintzlaff and sports adviser Helmut Marko. The former enjoys the support of the Thai majority owner while the latter has the backing of Austrian camp and star driver Max Verstappen.
The rift surfaced with harassment allegations against a female employee at the start of 2024. The grievance investigation resulted in the dismissal of the allegations by an independent barrister.
In the whole scenario, Verstappen’s father Jos asked for Horner to leave the team. It has kept the tension among the team since the surfacing of the issue. In addition, team design also announced his departure.
Brown remained one of the voices who asked for more transparency about the issue. He maintains that the issues will not hurt the team at the moment. However, it could affect the team’s performance for 2026 regulations.
“I think the turmoil will have more of a mid-to longer-term impact,” he said. “Adrian Newey … this car was done last year, what they are racing now was done when everything was fine.
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“It’s more ’26 when you’ve got a new engine coming, what’s going on with the driver front – that’s where you potentially are going to see the lack of stability that appears to be there maybe come through a little bit.
“Winning holds things together and, as that becomes more of a challenge for them, that’s where you might see some more fractures in various relationships inside that camp.”
F1 will revamp the sports regulations regarding the chassis and power units in 2026. Brown is conscious of the McLaren’s best chance to take the championship in 2025.
“I think next year could be an epic season, right? You could have four teams fighting for the championship,” he said, while also acknowledging the likes of Aston Martin and RB could join the fray.
“It would be naive to rule out someone who’s not in the top four right now, because we do see how quickly things can change.
“Everyone has very similar technology, so there’s no reason why others can’t do what we’ve done the last year.”
