Over the past few years, the Formula 1 paddock has often felt like a stage for endless drama. At the center of it all were McLaren and Red Bull — eternal rivals both on and off the track. Their two leaders, Zak Brown and Christian Horner, constantly clashed like fire and gasoline. But now, one of the biggest instigators has left the scene. With Horner gone, is the powder keg finally extinguished?
The feud between Brown and Horner was deeply rooted. On track, their teams were bitter rivals; off it, their verbal sparring matches never ceased. Earlier this year, things hit boiling point. Red Bull, unhappy with McLaren’s rapid progress, accused them of foul play — from flexible wings to trick tires. None of the accusations held up. Brown, for his part, didn’t hold back either, often publicly questioning Red Bull’s two-team setup and taking jabs whenever Horner appeared vulnerable.
When Horner was accused of misconduct by a Red Bull employee, Brown repeatedly voiced his disapproval in the press, especially during Horner’s final months in power when his leadership style seemed increasingly erratic.
Now that Red Bull has entered the post-Horner era, with Laurent Mekies taking over, many wonder if the team’s image will change in the eyes of their rivals. Interestingly, before McLaren’s feud with Red Bull peaked, it was actually Mercedes who were Red Bull’s fiercest adversaries. But since Horner’s exit in July, the tone has shifted. Brown has already met privately with Mekies, both sides seeking to ease tensions and start fresh. When asked when he last had a proper sit-down with Horner, Brown hesitated before joking: “Probably back in the mid-90s when we were both at the back of the British F3 grid.” That line summed up the depth of their fractured relationship.
The McLaren–Red Bull rivalry escalated sharply in May 2024. McLaren’s upgrade package sent their performance soaring, while Red Bull stalled. Horner pushed back hard — accusing McLaren of trickery with wings and even water in tires. By season’s end, those claims fizzled out. But in 2025, with Red Bull’s RB21 underperforming against McLaren’s MCL39, the accusations resurfaced. Technical Directives like TD018, meant to clamp down on flexible wings, ironically seemed to hurt Red Bull more than McLaren. Inside McLaren, some joked that Horner’s protests had backfired spectacularly.
Zak Brown argued that Red Bull crossed a line by obsessively probing McLaren’s tire management systems, even submitting formal questionnaires to the FIA — essentially asking regulators to solve the mystery for them. Brown mocked Horner’s hypocrisy, saying it reminded him of someone accusing others while hiding skeletons of their own. In Miami, Brown even carried a bottle labeled “tire water” as a jab at Horner — a silent insult that many fans loved.
By then, the feud had become personal. But with Horner gone, the bitterness may finally fade. Brown believes Mekies will steer Red Bull more like Ferrari under Fred Vasseur: fierce rivals on track, but respectful off it. He pointed to last year’s Ferrari–McLaren title battle as proof — both teams fought tooth and nail but still shared friendly photos after wins. That, Brown suggested, is the spirit F1 should embody — not Horner’s constant paranoia.
Even Andrea Stella, McLaren’s team principal, criticized Horner’s antics, saying they wasted Red Bull’s engineering talent. Instead of obsessing over McLaren, those resources could have been used to fix their own issues. Thankfully, under Mekies, Red Bull now seems focused inward rather than outward, a welcome shift for the paddock.
Brown summed it up best: “Teams don’t need to be best friends, but rivalries should be constructive. With Horner gone, we might finally get back to racing instead of finger-pointing.”
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