Inside F1: Zak Brown’s Views on Verstappen and Red Bull

May 4 – Zak Brown says he is not surprised Red Bull’s performance but also its smooth operations in the pitlane have taken a hit lately.

It was only just over a year ago when, as political turmoil and scandals were breaking out at the team, Max Verstappen was still utterly dominating.

What followed was an exodus of top men including Adrian Newey, while Jonathan Wheatley’s move from Red Bull to Audi is being linked to the recent slower pitstops and more troubled pitlane operations at the team.

“If you lose men like Adrian Newey, Rob Marshall, Jonathan Wheatley and probably more people than that, this is not so strange,” McLaren CEO Brown said.

“From what I read, Red Bull is mostly saying they won’t be missed. But it seems like they are,” the American, no fan of Red Bull and locked in a championship battle in 2025, told De Telegraaf newspaper.

“Rob Marshall is now with us as chief designer and he’s a very smart engineer. I can see exactly what he’s brought to our team. He’s doing a fantastic job,” Brown added.

However, what Red Bull can count on – Brown admits – is Verstappen. Therefore, Brown says he would actually like Red Bull to manage to hang on to the quadruple world champion.

“If you ask me now in the current situation, I would rather see Max driving for Red Bull than for Mercedes,” he said.

Indeed, if Verstappen were to switch to Mercedes, it would be amid speculation that the German team will once again master brand new engine rules. At the same time, Red Bull will produce its own power units in collaboration with Ford for the new era.

“There is a lot of talk about the engines next year, but no one can be sure who is in the best position,” said Brown. “What I can say is that I have an incredible amount of confidence in Mercedes.”

He thinks a clear sign that Red Bull is worried about the 2026 rules is the relentless campaign for last-minute rule changes. “If you think you are competitive, you don’t want to change anything,” said Brown.

“I can see with Mercedes that they seem very comfortable.”

Recently, it leaked to the media that Brown made a phone call to Verstappen’s management. He hasn’t denied it.

“It’s my job to explore the market and to know what’s going on,” he said. “We can’t forget that at that time I was also negotiating with my own driver (Oscar Piastri) about a new contract. I wanted to be able to estimate whether a possible stone could fall, which could cause a domino effect. Because that could trigger interest in my driver again.

“That’s why I made a few inquiries,” said Brown.

Verstappen has even joked that the phone call rapidly ended when his manager started talking about astronomical sums of money. “Let me put it this way,” Brown laughed. “During the phone call I got the information I needed.”

The needle between Red Bull and McLaren is likely to run for some time. In Miami, Brown trolled Red Bull by drinking from a water bottle cheekily marked “Tyre Water”.

He is now daring Red Bull to lodge an official protest against the insinuation of illegally injecting water into the tyres. “The protest fee should be set high enough that a team will carefully consider whether to actually file an appeal,” Brown told Auto Motor und Sport.

Red Bull is also hoping the FIA’s clampdown on flexible wings, scheduled for Barcelona, will slow McLaren down. “That makes no difference to us,” Brown insists.

“We are not at all worried about that rule change. There have been a lot of suggestions from others about our car in the past period, and none of it has been accurate.

“But the more they are distracted and focused on our car instead of their own performance, that can only be a good thing for us.”

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