Christian Horner questions ‘war of words’ tag with McLaren in F1 title battle

Christian Horner is not in a war of words with McLaren, after all, he says it’s McLaren who have been “quite vocal”, not Red Bull.

Racing Red Bull for this year’s championship titles, McLaren CEO Zak Brown has had a lot to say about the Milton Keynes squad – and it hasn’t been flattering.

Christian Horner: Certainly McLaren are being quite vocal

Demanding “transparency” in the Horner investigation when the team boss was investigated by Red Bull’s parent company over alleged inappropriate behaviour with the charges dismissed, Brown went on to call Red Bull a “pretty toxic environment right now” and more recently spoke of there being “lots of poison” at one team.

He stated that Adrian Newey’s departure was the “first domino to fall” in a team that had become “destabilised”.

More recently he brought up Red Bull’s breach of the 2021 budget cap, saying all he’s heard are “excuses and not taking ownership” while his latest bone of contention is the RB20’s ride height trick.

There Brown demanded that the Red Bull higher-ups sign an affidavit that it was never used under parc ferme conditions and spoke of “suspension” as a potential punishment if found guilty.

It’s fair to say Brown, who also objects to Red Bull having two teams in Red Bull Racing and VCARB, is not a fan.

Red Bull have also had a few things to say with Horner taking swipes at McLaren over their mini-DRS rear wing while earlier in the season they reportedly alerted the FIA to a hole in McLaren’s brake drum.

That their drivers are going wheel-to-wheel for race wins and the World title, clashing along the way, has added to the niggle.

But don’t call it a war of words as Horner says Red Bull have hardly said anything.

Asked if there was ‘some kind of vendetta that McLaren have towards Red Bull’, the Red Bull team principal told the media including PlanetF1.com: “Well, first of all, in terms of war of words, I’m always intrigued to read that because I don’t think we’ve been making too many comments about McLaren.

“Now, inevitably, when you’re running at the sharp end, then everything comes under more scrutiny.

“And you can feel that, you know, certainly McLaren are being quite vocal in certain aspects about many, many parts of our team, our car, stewards, et cetera, et cetera.”

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F1 rules ‘make cricket look simple’

On top of the bib trick, McLaren’s latest argument with Red Bull is about Verstappen and Norris’ United States Grand Prix battle with the McLaren driver slapped with a five-second penalty for passing Verstappen off the track even though Verstappen was the one who forced him wide.

It rumbled on in Mexico after McLaren requested a right to review the penalty but that was denied by the FIA.

Horner is in favour of the Circuit of The Americas laying down gravel at the exit of Turn 12 to avoid more drama in the future.

“I think these things are discussed at length with the team managers and drivers, and I think we’ve got a set of guidelines that are pretty clear. In some cases, they make cricket look simple,” he said.

“But I think the fundamental thing about last weekend is it’s natural that two drivers are going to push each other hard, and you can’t overtake off the circuit.

“Now, for me, there would be a much simpler solution that… We saw it in Austria. You put gravel on the exit of a corner, drivers won’t go there.

“And I know that cost and restrictions come in from that perspective, but I think if you have a deterrent on the exit of a corner, like Turn 12, for example, in Austin, and you wouldn’t find a driver running wide because he’s going to go significantly slower, maybe damage his car and cost him significant time.

“So for me, keep it simple. Try and go back to basics.”

Red Bull and McLaren will line up on the Mexican Grand Prix grid 1-2 in both championships with Verstappen leading the Drivers’ by 57 points ahead of Norris while McLaren are 40 up on Red Bull in the Constructors’.

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