‘Subservient’ Red Bull ‘afraid’ as Zak Brown weighs in on ‘Max Verstappen rule’
McLaren boss Zak Brown has been a vocal critic of Max Verstappen and Red Bull
Zak Brown, the McLaren chief executive, has claimed that “everyone seems to be afraid” of Max Verstappen at Red Bull.
And he believes the four-time world champion has turned Red Bull into his “own little empire” where the team is “subservient to him.”
Zak Brown: ‘Everyone seems afraid’ of Max Verstappen at Red Bull
Verstappen has cemented his place among the greatest drivers in history over recent years, winning 58 0f the 111 races held since the start of his maiden title-winning season in 2021.
However, Verstappen appears set to lose his world championship at the end of F1 2025 with Lando Norris, the McLaren driver, holding a 24-point lead over teammate Oscar Piastri ahead of the final triple header in Las Vegas, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen currently occupies a distant third place in the standings, trailing Norris by 49 points.
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The Dutchman has scored all but 25 of Red Bull’s points over the course of this season with his teammates, Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, struggling to match his pace behind the wheel of the RB21 car.
The struggles of other Red Bull drivers over recent years has led to suggestions that the team is too heavily focused on Verstappen and his requirements from the car.
Brown has been a consistent critic of Verstappen and Red Bull with the McLaren boss embroiled in a fierce rivalry with former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
Writing in his new book, Seven Tenths of a Second, Brown has claimed that Red Bull appear “afraid” of Verstappen, citing the team’s decision to overlook Carlos Sainz last year as evidence of its desire to cater to the world champion.
He said: “The other example is Max Verstappen’s rule at Red Bull. I say ‘rule’ on purpose.
“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].”
Horner was abruptly sacked by Red Bull after more than 20 years in charge following July’s British Grand Prix, with Racing Bulls boss Laurent Mekies installed as his successor as chief executive and team principal.
Horner’s exit came at the height of rumours linking Verstappen with a move to Mercedes for the F1 2026 season.
Verstappen insisted at the time that he had no influence on Red Bull’s decision to part with Horner.
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Brown went on to add that Red Bull are “terrified” of Verstappen walking away, forcing the team to do everything necessary to keep him satisfied.
He wrote: “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.
“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.”
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