Zak Brown would be “shocked” if Christian Horner didn’t return to F1

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says he would be “shocked” if former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner didn’t return to Formula 1 in the future.

Horner spent 20 years at the helm of the Milton Keynes-based outfit, which he led to eight drivers’ and six constructors’ titles. His position became precarious after Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz’ death; it was also weakened by several key figures leaving the team, including Adrian Newey, and an internal investigation following a complaint of inappropriate behaviour by a female employee – though Horner was cleared of any wrongdoing.

The Briton was eventually dismissed last July and is believed to have sounded out several F1 teams regarding a potential role. One of those is Alpine, albeit not just about a management position – Otro Capital is considering selling a 24% share in the team, with Horner among the potential buyers within a consortium.

Asked if F1 misses Horner and if he misses the Englishman himself, Brown said: “Christian was a great personality for the sport. Sport always has great personalities, they come and go. It'd be great to have Christian back in the sport. He's a great operator. His track record speaks for itself.

“I'd rather have 10 weak team principals, but that's not going to happen anytime soon, and there's huge talent that's coming up all the time. There's been a lot of team principal moves here in the last two to three years, but it would be great to have him back in the sport, and given his passion for the sport and his age, I'd be shocked if he wasn't back in the sport, whether it was at Alpine or somewhere else.”

Coincidentally, Red Bull’s latest loss is Gianpiero Lambiase, the team’s head of racing as well as Max Verstappen’s race engineer, who has signed with McLaren.

Gianpiero Lambiase, Race Engineer, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Erik Junius

The 45-year-old will depart Milton Keynes “in 2028, when his current contract expires”, according to Red Bull, while McLaren expects his arrival in Woking “when his existing contract ends, no later than 2028”, suggesting the team is hopeful to reach an agreement for an early release.

Lambiase will then act as McLaren’s chief racing officer, reporting to team principal Andrea Stella. Brown has now explained this specific arrangement.

“On the racing operations side, Andrea in reality has three jobs: he's the team principal, he runs the racing team and he also plays a big role in kind of a technical director capacity, obviously,” the American detailed.

“Andrea is kind of the glue that brings that together, and much as the team principal role has evolved over the years and now you're seeing most teams with the CEO and team principal, now you're seeing the team principal role evolve, and these teams are so big that if you're going to be great in all those roles…

“Andrea is very capable of doing two jobs. Asking him to do three jobs is a tall order. So GP will come in and play a great role there. And then my job is always to be looking down the road as to who can play and grow within the sport. So certainly given GP's experience and his age, he's someone I think that can be here for a long time at McLaren and grow.”