Zak Brown makes punchy F1 claim: 'Red Bull afraid of Max Verstappen'

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has suggested the Red Bull F1 team is “afraid” of four-time champion Max Verstappen.

Verstappen has long been part of the Red Bull set-up, joining the squad in early 2016 after spending his rookie F1 season at Toro Rosso the year before.

The Dutchman has since fashioned himself into one of the most successful drivers of all time, winning four F1 titles and almost 70 race victories.

Writing in his new book Seven Tenths of a Second, Brown suggested Verstappen is the figure calling the shots inside the team, rather than the team principal.

“The other example is Max Verstappen’s rule at Red Bull. I say 'rule' on purpose,” Brown wrote.

“Sometimes, way before Christian Horner is fired in the middle of the 2025 season, it actually feels like Max is running the team.

“Everyone seems to be subservient to him. Everyone seems to be afraid of him.

“The car is tailored to Max, to a point where it seems difficult for anyone else to drive it effectively.

“Red Bull tend not to choose a second driver who will pose any threat to Max, otherwise Carlos Sainz would have been an obvious choice [for 2025].”

Red Bull 'terrified' of losing Max Verstappen

Earlier this year, Verstappen was heavily linked with an exit from Red Bull amid the team's blip in form.

He declared that he would remain with the team for 2026 when fresh technical regulations come into play, despite having interest from Mercedes.

Brown suggested Red Bull is “terrified” of losing Verstappen and pledged he will not structure McLaren in a similar fashion to the Milton Keynes squad.

“Max is a brilliant driver and they are terrified of losing him, and the way they have chosen to do that is to keep him happy above all else,” he said.

“If that means becoming a one-man team, a driver’s own little empire, they are willing to do that.

“That’s not how I want to lead at McLaren.

“And to be fair to Ron [Dennis] and Mansour [Ojjeh] who ran McLaren for so long, that’s not the way they wanted to do things either.

“That kind of unfairness, that stifling of competition, is not part of our company ethos.”