‘Not everyone’s best friends’ - Zak Brown on Christian Horner F1 return rumours

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has addressed rumours linking Christian Horner with a return to F1.

Horner was dismissed as team principal and CEO of Red Bull after 20 years at the helm following the British Grand Prix in July, though his formal departure was only finalised earlier this month.

The 51-year-old Briton negotiated a severance package that will reportedly see him walk away from Red Bull £80m richer, while the deal will enable him to return to the F1 paddock before next summer.

Horner has already been linked with the likes of Alpine, Aston Martin and Haas as rumours over his future continue to swirl.

Brown, who often engaged in war of words with the former Red Bull team principal when they were rivals, has now commented on speculation that Horner could return to the F1 paddock in 2026.

"I think he's had a stellar career in Formula 1; his results are lots of drivers' championships, world championships," Brown told Bloomberg.

"I think when you get into sport, not everyone's best friends, there's different characters, so, while we may not have too many cups of tea in England, as we say, you need all different types of characters in the sport.

"I think that's what makes the sport very exciting, that's that kind of the Netflix effect, is what happens off the track. I think our sport's unique in that not only is the competition on the field of play extremely exciting, there's a lot of competition off the field of play.

"And it's a small group of team bosses and drivers, so I think the fans can get to know us all. I've got my friends in pitlane and some that aren't, but I think that's what makes it exciting and it's authentic and genuine.”

What Zak Brown previously said about Christian Horner

Brown welcomed Horner’s exit in the wake of his sacking in July, claiming that F1 would be in a “healthier place” without him.

The American also accused Horner, whose final 18 months at Red Bull were overshadowed by controversy following allegations made by a female colleague, of “crossing the line”.

"I'm happy Laurent [Mekies, new Red Bull team principal] is in the role he is in," Brown said at the time. "I like Laurent, that'll be healthy, and maybe we can get back to focusing on competition on the track.

"There's always going to be some political aspects to the sport, but I think it is going to be healthier with Laurent. I'm a fan of Laurent, I have known him for a long time, and it'll be good to go racing against him.

"If I look up and down pit lane now, I see us fighting each other hard politically, but the line is not being crossed, and that line got crossed before.

"So I think that we'll see a little bit of a change for the better. There's a higher level of trust that now if we sit down and have a conversation on a topic where we think there could be some confidentiality, and it's just not an automatic: 'I'm going to use that as a political weapon’.

"We're going to be in a better place, a little bit more unified, and a little bit more trusting that while we're fighting on track, we can have a conversation about what's good for the sport off it. And that won't get manipulated for political reasons and taken out of context."