Zak Brown takes fresh swipe at Christian Horner for ‘excuses’ and ‘not taking ownership’

Christian Horner and Zak Brown.

Claiming “we used to get on”, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown accused Red Bull team boss Christian Horner of “excuses and not taking ownership” as this one-sided war of words rolls on.

Brown, in recent times, has not missed an opportunity to fire some verbal offence in the direction of Red Bull and their team principal Horner, whether it be over Red Bull’s minor breach of the 2021 cost cap, or the internal Red Bull GmbH investigation into allegations made against Horner by a fellow employee, a case which was ultimately dismissed.

Zak Brown continues Christian Horner attack

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

And in an interview with BBC Sport, Brown would claim that he believes in “transparency” and “putting your hand up when you get something wrong”, suggesting that he has seen none of that from Horner, focusing in on the historic minor cost cap breach situation.

“I’ve known Christian for about 25, 30 years. We used to race against each other. I would say we used to get on,” said Brown.

“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 kind of 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 realise 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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The verbal offensive has been very much coming from Brown’s side, with Horner refraining from getting involved.

The collision between Red Bull’s World Championship leader Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris at this year’s Austrian Grand Prix – while battling for the lead – proved another opening for Brown to vent his dissatisfaction at Red Bull.

But, after Brown had suggested in the aftermath that Red Bull repeatedly show a lack of “respect” for the rules, Horner, in response to a question from PlanetF1.com, did not wish to “dignify” Brown’s criticism by offering a comeback.

“I’m not going to dignify that with an answer,” was Horner’s clear stance.

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