Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has stated his position after holding peace talks with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown at the Hungarian Grand Prix. The two organisations previously had a strained relationship with tension between the American boss and Christian Horner.
Brown and Horner clashed over a number of issues, with their rivalry captured in high definition in the latest season of Netflix’s Drive to Survive series. Tensions peaked after the Red Bull chief and some members of staff made what McLaren described as “frivolous accusations” about the legality of their car. I think that it went too far,” Brown said of his rivalry with Horner. “There’s always going to be politicking, and let’s try and shut down their flexi wings and that stuff. But when you start getting into frivolous allegations, I think that’s just going too far.
“If I look up and down pit lane now, I see us fighting each other hard politically, but there being a line that’s not crossed. I think that line got crossed before, and I think it was unhealthy. So I think that we’ll see a little bit of a change for the better.”
After the British Grand Prix, Horner was sacked amid a slump in performance and with star driver Max Verstappen’s future in doubt. His replacement, Mekies, is a much less controversial figure, and he held talks with the chief of the Constructors’ Championship leader at the Hungaroring.
Opening up on these talks, Mekies explained: “You know, competition on track is one thing. Having discussions together to define the positions on the future of the sport, on key strategic decisions that we need to make as a sport for the future, is something that is normal to do between competitors.
“And as much as we will disagree there and there, or we will simply defend our short-term or mid-term interest, the truth is, we have a very good relationship with Zak, with Andrea. But also with Toto [Wolff], and also with Fred [Vasseur] and Mattia [Binotto] and all the other guys.
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“So, you know, it’s a very good group. And I think we have done enough, F1 Commission all together, to be conscious that if we want to truly contribute to the sport – and I think the sport at the level where it is right now – deserves that a group tries to tune down their short-term and mid-term interest to discuss with the FIA and with F1 on how to drive it forward.
“And that’s what we try to do. We don’t hide our bias, but we try to be constructive about how to go about it.”
Unfortunately for Mekies, the on-track action in Hungary wasn’t as smooth as the talks in the paddock. Verstappen crossed the line in ninth, while team-mate Yuki Tsunoda finished outside of the top 10 for the seventh successive Grand Prix.