Zak Brown explains why 'instable' Red Bull is good for McLaren

McLaren's Zak Brown has explained why "instability" at Red Bull is key for his McLaren team, as his feud with Christian Horner continues.

The McLaren and Red Bull bosses have a long-standing animosity which first came to public attention at the 2022 United States GP when Red Bull were found to have breached the 2021 cost cap, leading to Brown penning an open letter, writing that he felt the breach constituted "cheating."

Later, in the 2024 season-opener as allegations of inappropriate behaviour were being investigated by Red Bull about Horner, Brown was asked for his thoughts in an official press conference.

Netflix Drive to Survive cameras later picked Horner up calling Brown "a prick" for his comments in that press conference, with Red Bull starting 2025 in an unstable position following the departures of Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley, the impending one of Will Courtenay, the poor performance of the RB21 and Liam Lawson and the doubts about its in-house engine project for 2026.

The future of Max Verstappen is also being openly discussed, with Brown explaining why he is only too keen to help stir things along.

"Our sport, perhaps more than others - though I wouldn’t claim to be an expert on other sports - has a highly competitive and political aspect," he told host Oz Woloshyn on Kaleidoscope's TechStuff podcast.

"The goal is to make ourselves as fast as possible, but there’s also a strategy of destabilising the competition. 

"We try to create tension or disrupt other teams, which isn’t unique to F1 but is particularly pronounced here. 

"You’re constantly fighting for employees, drivers, sponsors, and media attention plays a big role. 

"If you can generate some instability in rival teams - and it doesn’t always work in our favour - it can slow them down while we focus on speeding up."