Zak Brown does not have the time, nor the patience, for chancers. The straight-talking Californian-raised McLaren chief executive is revelling in his team's ascendancy back to the top of the sport, fighting the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes. But most of all in recent months, Red Bull.
On track, this front-of-the-pack dogfight has mushroomed between three-time world champion Max Verstappen, Red Bull, and one-time race winner Lando Norris, McLaren. The pair, somewhat uniquely within a sport famous for its fierce rivalries, have a close relationship off-track. A friendship and a bond that nosedived three weeks ago in Austria.
They collided while vying for the lead, following a handful of near-misses, and two races were ruined in an instant. Verstappen was the driver punished by the stewards – a 10second penalty rendered irrelevant on the timesheet as Norris was forced to retire – for not leaving the obligatory ‘width of a car’ on track for Norris at the tricky upwards hairpin.
Yet Verstappen refused to apologise and Red Bull boss Christian Horner laid the blame at Norris’s door, saying over team radio: “He didn’t behave correctly there Max, desperately unlucky.” Brown, aboveboard and unequivocal at the best times, was not having a bit of it. Both then and now.
“It seems to be that Red Bull are scared of Max,” the McLaren CEO tells The Independent. “We’re very honest with our drivers. If nobody tells him that what he did wasn’t within the regulations, why should he think otherwise? But to have Christian come on the radio and actually squarely point the problem at Lando – who are you kidding? Everyone has seen it. The regulations are very clear – you’ve got to leave a car’s width. He didn’t. Why did he have to say anything? It just felt wholly inappropriate.”
この記事は The Independent の July 18, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The Independent の July 18, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Meet the new stars as F1 finally bloods young talent
For Kimi Antonelli, the 18-year-old wonderkid who Mercedes have high hopes will be their version of Max Verstappen, it was the biggest of comedowns at the Italian Grand Prix yesterday. The scene was set, the Autodromo Nazionale Monza glistening in 35C sunshine, as the Italian prospect expected to replace Lewis Hamilton at the Silver Arrows next year took to the track in first practice: his first session in Formula 1.
Summers-Newton powers to another swimming gold
There is no textbook for dealing with teenage sporting stardom, but Maisie Summers-Newton is as qualified as anyone to write it.
Dutch rivals were never pals - but now they're foes
They are not friends, according to Arne Slot. “Friends is someone you see a lot and go out with for dinner with,” said the Liverpool manager. Erik ten Hag does not belong in that category. Their relationship, Slot claimed, is as “good and normal as with other managers”. But a rivalry has been renewed; it may not be personal between them, but it tends to be between their clubs.
UK won't suddenly collapse because of a four-day week
Labour's 'Make Work Pay' proposals are aimed at boosting productivity and driving economic growth, not the opposite
Germany deports Afghans a week after deadly stabbings
Germany has deported Afghan nationals back to their homeland for the first time since the Taliban seized back power three years ago.
China not ready to invade at the moment, says Taiwan
China lacks the ability to fully invade Taiwan but is developing hypersonic weapons and other methods to threaten the island, Taipei's defence ministry has warned.
Brazilian court orders ban on X after Musk legal row
Brazil’s supreme court has ordered the “immediate and complete suspension” of Elon Musk’s social media platform X throughout the country.
Child dies as Russian bomb hits playground in Kharkiv
At least five people, including a teenage girl, have been killed in what Kyiv has said was a Russian glide bomb attack on an apartment block in northeast Ukraine.
Harris comes out of 'hiding' to ace her first TV interview
Democrat keeps race in her favour with 'do no harm' strategy
Man is caught 'upskirting' woman at British Museum
Police ask other victims on phone videos to come forward
