McLaren boss Zak Brown: Christian Horner may be feeling ‘vulnerable’ at Red Bull

McLaren boss Zak Brown has claimed rival Christian Horner should be feeling “vulnerable” as Red Bull team principal.

McLaren arrived in China as the team to beat following Lando Norris’ impressive win in Australia, although Lewis Hamilton capitalised on an error by his compatriot to take a surprise pole position for Saturday’s sprint race.

Max Verstappen qualified second but the Red Bull star has taken just two victories from his last 15 appearances.

Horner has overseen eight drivers’ titles and six constructors’ championships as Red Bull team principal, with Verstappen taking his fourth world crown in a row in 2024.

Brown, who last year steered McLaren to their first constructors’ championship in 26 years, told the PA news agency: “I would think any of us would come under pressure when you are not performing at the highest level, on-track, off-track, with sponsors, relationships, and brands.

“If I went to the F1 launch and I wasn’t welcomed (Horner was booed), and I came back to the table and I am sitting next to the CMO of our sponsors’ OKX and Mastercard, that is not a great look.

“You have got the Red Bull GmbH managing director (Oliver Mintzlaff) sitting there. And then you have got the Verstappens who don’t seem to have a great relationship (with Horner), from the outside looking in.

“(Technical director) Adrian Newey, Rob Marshall (who joined McLaren from Red Bull as chief designer) and (sporting director) Jonathan Wheatley have all left and if I was in that position, I would feel vulnerable.

“When I go and meet my board, I would not be feeling great because they would be going, ‘Well, why did he leave? Why did he leave? And why did he leave? Oh, and by the way, you didn’t seem to get a very warm welcome at the launch’. I don’t know how they feel. But I would feel vulnerable.”

Norris and Verstappen also clashed on track as the latter guarded the championship lead he established by winning seven of the opening 10 races.

However, Brown said: “Lando has learned how to race Max. With all the noise last year, Lando was tired of it. He has got his own personality, which people love about him, but others see that as a vulnerability. He is just an honest guy who doesn’t play games.

“This year, he is in a different mindset of like, ‘No, I can beat this guy. I have shown you I can beat this guy. And I am going to beat this guy and I don’t want to hear it anymore’.

“Look at his actions on track. He tried to pass Max round the outside in Austria and they ran side-by-side in Austin and Mexico, so he wasn’t being submissive. He raced Max hard. He just got run off the track a handful of times but he never backed out.

“I was talking to his trainer and he had a killer January. He has come into this season fitter and more focused. He is confident, determined, prepared, and you can see it in the way he talks and the questions he asks. In Australia he was totally in control and totally unfazed.”

McLaren were on course to claim a one-two finish at the chaotic season opener in Melbourne before Oscar Piastri ran off the road when the rain intensified.

But such is McLaren’s apparent advantage – Mercedes’ George Russell claimed on Thursday that the British team should win every race – Piastri, rather than Verstappen, could prove Norris’ closest challenger for the title.

“We are prepared for that,” said Brown. “(McLaren team principal) Andrea (Stella) and I and the drivers have spent a lot of time on it. At some point there will be an incident. It is inevitable.

“But what we have talked about is how we handle that. Our conversations are around racing each other hard and fair – which they have done – and someone is going to make a mistake but don’t jump to conclusions because you think your team-mate has come into the side of you. It might have been someone else.

“So don’t react, let’s keep it in the family because that is where relationships go wrong. We saw that with Lewis (Hamilton) and Nico (Rosberg) chucking caps at each other.”