McLaren CEO Zak Brown says he would be “shocked” if Christian Horner did not return to Formula 1 in the near future.
Horner is eyeing a route back into the sport after his sacking from Red Bull last summer, following two decades of success leading the outfit as team principal. He won 14 F1 world championships in total.
The British executive has been linked with Alpine – and is part of a consortium which has bid for a minority stake in the team, alongside a pitch from Mercedes – as well as Aston Martin and even the top job at Ferrari.
Brown enjoyed a fractious and fierce relationship with Horner over the last few years, with the pair clashing over Red Bull’s cost-cap breach, incidents between star drivers Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, and even Red Bull’s internal investigation over allegations of “inappropriate behaviour” levelled at Horner, for which he was cleared twice in 2024.
Yet, speaking at a McLaren media event on Wednesday, Brown has backed his long-term adversary to return to the paddock soon. “Christian was a great personality for the sport,” said the American.
“They come and go. It’d be great to have Christian back in the sport. He’s a great operator.
“I’d rather have 10 weak team principals, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon! It’d be great to have him back.
“I’m sure given his passion… I’d be shocked if he wasn’t back in the sport.”
Brown also spoke passionately about the concept of “A/B teams” in Formula 1, given Mercedes’s interest in Alpine and Red Bull’s two-team structure with Racing Bulls acting as a junior outfit for the main Red Bull team.
"In today's day and age, if that's permitted, I think it runs a real high risk of compromising the integrity of sporting fairness,” said Brown, who has long voiced his disapproval of one company owning two teams.
"And what would turn fans off is if they don't feel like there's 11 independent racing teams. I've been vocal about it from day one. We've seen it play out on track in a sporting way, with Daniel Ricciardo taking the fastest lap point away [Singapore GP, 2024] from us to help the other team.
"We've seen IP [intellectual property] violations on the Aston Martin/Racing Point brake ducts. We've seen employees move overnight, where we either have to wait and sometimes make financial deals, which then impact us in the cost cap.
"So when you see other teams that move from one to the other and then also without financial compensation, that's an unfair financial advantage. That's an unfair sporting advantage. We've seen Ferrari and Haas move people back and forth, and we know with IP, there's a lot in your head with that.
"Can you imagine a Premier League game where you've got two teams owned by the same group - one's going to get relegated if they lose, and the other can afford to lose? That's what we run the risk of.
“So I think having engine power units as suppliers is as far as it should go and then in my view, all 11 teams should be absolutely as independent as possible because I think it has a high risk, and we have seen it, to compromise the integrity of the sport."
”It applies to anybody and everybody. So A and B teams, co-ownership, regardless of who it is, I frown upon it. I don't think it's healthy for the sport.”
F1 returns with the Miami Grand Prix, round four of the 2026 season, on 1-3 May.
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