F1 rivalry will be healthier without Christian Horner, says Zak Brown
Brown and Horner have regularly butted heads in recent seasons, and while there appears to be a semblance of mutual respect in Toto Wolff — the Mercedes team principal — and Horner's rivalry, the Brit and the McLaren CEO genuinely do not like one another.
Horner, who was team principal and CEO, was sacked by Red Bull last month after the British Grand Prix and replaced by Laurent Mekies.
'I'm happy he's in the role he's in, I like Laurent, and I think that'll be healthy, and maybe we can get back to focusing on competition on the track and where there's always going to be some political aspects to the sport, I think it's going to be healthier with Laurent,' Brown said.
'It went too far [with Horner]. There's always going to be politicking, and let's try and shut down their flexi wings and that stuff. But when you start getting into frivolous allegations, I think that's just going too far.
'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. I also think it's important for the benefit of the sport that we all can work together and there's a higher level of trust that if we sit down and have a conversation on a topic… there could be some confidentiality to that, and it's just not an automatic 'I'm going to use that as a political weapon'… that won't get manipulated away for political reasons and taken out of context.'
One of the main disputes between Brown and Horner occurred over Red Bull's suspicions that McLaren were cooling their tyres in a manner which broke the rules. No evidence of this was ever found — and the FIA suspect that it was simply clever engineering that has given the championship leaders an edge in this area. In Miami, Brown drank from a bottle on the pit wall labelled 'tire water'.
BRADLEY COLLYER/PA
'I think that we'll see a little bit of a change for the better,' Brown said. 'I presume he'll be back, he's young, he's a racer. His credentials are pretty awesome [but] I'm looking forward to racing Red Bull more like we race Ferrari and Mercedes, being more collegiate.
'From a fan's point of view, the drama, the villain stuff, I think works. But I also think the celebratory fight it out on track, but then photo bomb each other [as Ferrari's Fred Vasseur did in Miami], that wasn't pre planned. I think that's really good. That's a more fun way to go racing, and can be just as entertaining as the good cop, bad cop thing. I'm looking forward to that.'
McLaren have taken up the mantle of being the sport's leading team from Red Bull, who have declined sharply since the start of last season. A number of key figures have left in recent years.
'Laurent coming in… that was not — or doesn't appear to be — a healthy environment. People leaving, [is a] fact, right? [Adrian] Newey, [Jonathan] Wheatley, Rob [Marshall], Will Courtenay, Dan Fallows — if I look at us at the other extreme, we really haven't lost anybody at the senior level. We've had people join us. So, I think stability is critical.'
Brown was asked when the last time he had a meeting with Horner, in the way he had with Mekies on Sunday morning, was. 'Maybe when we were racing each other in Formula 3,' the 53-year-old laughed.
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