Brown Hits At Red Bull's 'Toxic Environment' As He Believes 'There's More To Come'
F1Wednesday, 12 June 2024 at 18:00
The CEO of McLaren Racing, Zak Brown, yet again took a swipe at Christian Horner's Red Bull Racing team, asserting there's a "pretty toxic environment right now."
Zak Brown has already hit Red Bull at the start of May when Adrian Newey's exit (at the start of 2025) was officially announced.
Back then, the 53-year-old stated that Red Bull's chief technical officer leaving was just the "first domino to fall" and that there was more to come, as he has seen an increased flow of CVs from Red Bull employees flying around.
Red Bull later addressed words from the McLaren CEO, stating that all of their technical leadership signed long-term contracts in recent months and that they do not foresee any significant loss that Brown was referring to.
About a month later, the 53-year-old yet again suggested the team from Milton Keynes was about to collapse. Appearing on the Bloomberg's Hot Pursuit podcast, he said, according to Racingnews365:
"Red Bull is a pretty toxic environment right now. There is more to come. Newey's departure is an important one, because I think a lot of people at Red Bull started working with him. I already mentioned that there were resumes circulating."
"That happens all the time, but you see a higher level of discomfort. I also think that in the future, it will be more difficult with sponsors, because they are going to examine carefully what they are associated with. That's a tricky situation."
Max Verstappen's potential exit rumors also destabilize the team:
The CEO of McLaren also brought the triple World Champion into the conversation. Although the 26-year-old driver mentioned he is happy where he is at the moment, speculations around his potential exit just don't seem to go away.
"You have the whole Verstappen drama. Is he staying, or is he leaving? Max has a contract, only his father is pretty outspoken."
"Red Bull is a great racing team but destabilized. You can see that with Newey leaving. However, you can never erase them."
Is Red Bull destabilized, or are other teams trying to destabilize them? Every now and then, we hear that something is going on behind the closed doors of the Austrian team, but they continue to deliver on track.
On the other hand, it should be noted that other teams have caught up to Red Bull significantly over the last couple of weeks. Is that related? Brown believes it is.
"As I said, they are an incredible team, just by my reasoning, they are not as strong as they used to be. If I look at who has the best path of visibility and momentum right now, it's Ferrari and McLaren. Things can change quickly, though, so we have to keep both feet on the ground."
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