“I heard excuses and not taking ownership”: McLaren boss takes fresh jibe at Christian Horner and Red Bull amid recent controversies 

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has slammed Christian Horner for not being transparent and taking accountability when Red Bull Racing breached the cost cap in 2022. Speaking to the BBC in an exclusive interview, the American reckoned that the Briton and the Milton Keynes team did not take ownership of their mistakes.

Red Bull had breached the cost cap in 2021 and were given a financial penalty but not a sporting penalty. Brown was disappointed and has been openly expressing his views about Horner and the reigning champions since. He had also accused Red Bull of cheating by breaching the cost cap, as the row broke out in 2022. The McLaren chief felt there were too many excuses and a lack of accountability for the breach. Having known Horner for nearly three decades, Brown admitted to sharing a good rapport with him in the past.

Reflecting on the cost cap breach by Red Bull, the McLaren CEO said:

“I've known Christian for about 25, 30 years. We used to race against each other. I would say we used to get on. I believe in transparency. I believe in putting your hand up when you get something wrong. The cost cap, the excuses behind that, I never really heard a 'we just got it wrong'. I heard excuses and not taking ownership.”

“When someone breaches the cost cap, and doesn't seem to take it seriously, that's kind of hitting the integrity and core of the sport. To me, it's not personal. It's protecting our sport. And when I see things not consistent with our values, I'm going to speak up about it because it's important people understand where we're coming from. I realize that's not necessarily always going to be popular, or make friends with everyone in the pit lane, but as long as I'm friends with McLaren, our fans, our partners, that's what's most important to me.”

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McLaren boss expects championship fight with Red Bull to go down to the wire

Zak Brown has claimed he did not anticipate McLaren to be competitive at the top in 2024. Ideally, he expected them to be contenders by 2025. The 52-year-old's belief is that biting into Red Bull’s points share would depend on the results of Sergio Perez, who has been underperforming this season. The Mexican driver's absence from the top 5 spots since Miami has helped McLaren close down the gap to 42 points.

Commenting on the performance trajectory of McLaren so far, Brown said:

“If I were to sit here and say I'm not surprised, that would be disingenuous. Red Bull had such an advantage over everyone and Mercedes has been so dominant. I felt like we'd continue to close the gap. Did I think we would be here at the summer break, one race away from getting the lead. That race would have to be first and second and fastest lap, and do I think it's going to happen like that? No. But if we keep the same trajectory we've been on the last six, or seven races, we'll be where we need to be by the end of the year. I thought we might get where we are now by 2025. I didn't think we would be where we are now in 2024. But I'm not complaining.”

Revealing the key factor to defeating Red Bull, the McLaren CEO said:

“It's going to be tough. I think it's going to come down to the last race. There's not much between the cars. It's gonna come down to how does Sergio Perez perform? If he can perform as he's capable of performing, it's going to be a hard fight. If he continues to perform as he has this year, we have a pretty good chance, because we have two drivers constantly performing at the front.”

As it stands McLaren is second in the standings with a narrow margin to Red Bull. However, Max Verstappen is still leading the drivers' championship by 78 points. The Papaya Orange squad has also thrown away important wins due to strategy errors and driver errors in the last five races. In terms of performance, the MCL38 has proven to be a more versatile car than the RB20, which is struggling to make performance gains. Given the extra wind tunnel time they have had compared to Red Bull, the Woking team could further add performance to their car in the developmental race.