McLaren CEO Blasts Red Bull With Fresh Lack Of Respect Allegations

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has openly criticized their competitor, Red Bull Racing, accusing them of a broad disregard for the sport’s regulations. Brown’s scathing comments come in the wake of several contentious issues, including an on-track clash between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.

The trigger for Brown’s criticism was an incident at last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix where Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris were involved in a collision, which ended the latter’s race. However, Brown’s concerns extended beyond this single event. He also called out the Austrian team for a previous breach of F1’s cost cap in 2021 and serious accusations regarding the conduct of Red Bull’s team principal, Christian Horner, citing misconduct allegations.

Speaking to the media during the Team Press Conference for the British Grand Prix, Brown commented, as quoted by BBC Sport:

“We need to have respect for regulations and we’ve seen there be lack of respect, whether it’s financial regulations or you know sporting, on-track issues with fathers and things of that nature.

“And I just don’t think that’s how we need to go racing, and we need to guide our drivers on what’s right or wrong.”

Adding to the complexity of F1’s regulatory adherence is the role of “part-time stewards,” whom Brown pointed out face a challenging task. He continued:

“Having part-time stewards, it’s a very difficult job, it’s quite complex, and so to kind of do it on a part-time basis for the level Formula 1 is difficult, because Max and Lando were just duking it out as you’d expect them to do.

“And until someone tells Max: ‘Hey, that’s against the regulations’, he’s not going to know any different.

“And so I think there were missed opportunities for the stewards to make note.

“Also disappointed that at such a great team like Red Bull that the leadership almost encourages it because you listen on the radio and what was said. We all have a responsibility on pit wall tell our drivers the do’s and don’ts and what’s going on in the race.”

This comes after McLaren team principal Andrea Stella commented to Sky Sports F1 directly after the Austrian Grand Prix:

“I see that the entire population in the world would know who is responsible except for a group of people.

“But the problem behind it is that if you don’t address these things honestly, they will come back. They have come back today because they were not addressed properly in the past when there were some fights with Lewis that needed to be punished in a harsher way.

“You learn now to race in a certain way, which we can consider fair and square.”

The dialogue surrounding these incidents and accusations isn’t confined to McLaren. Toto Wolff, the Mercedes F1 team boss, echoed similar sentiments about the necessity of regulation and personal responsibility among drivers. He commented, as quoted in the same BBC Sport report:

“The drivers among themselves will know best. Lando and Max, they get on with each other very well. They’re not going to trash each other in the media, but talk it through, and all the good guys will have a judgment on that, and we’ll see what it means. I think that’s number one.

“And number two is there’s a set of regulations. And those regulations give the boundaries to the drivers, what’s on, what’s not.

“I tend to agree with Zak, it’s always amusing to see just one-dimensional comments of team principals where you think, let’s be a little bit objective at least.”