Zak Brown has intensified the developing rivalry for the 2024 championship, focusing on titleholder Max Verstappen and McLaren's top driver, Lando Norris.
Mercedes' George Russell emerged victorious in Austria the previous week following a contentious collision involving Verstappen and Norris. Despite this, the Mercedes competitor acknowledges that the pair remains the ones to watch at the upcoming Silverstone race.
"I think Lando and Max are probably going to be the two guys out in front," Russell commented.
On Friday at Silverstone, Norris, aged 24, led the timing charts during both free practice sessions, despite trailing Verstappen by a substantial 81 points in the championship standings.
Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull F1 advisor, is not panicking about Verstappen's recent performance.
"We lose too much in the slow corners," he conceded to Austrian broadcaster ORF. "We're still good, but not at Norris' level."
"The long run was strong but for qualifying, we still have to dot the i's and cross the t's. If we had used the soft tyre at the same time as Norris, the difference would have been one or two tenths in favour of the McLaren."
Amidst this competitive atmosphere, despite Verstappen and Norris mending their friendship after their clash in Austria, Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren, has reignited the competitive spirit between the teams.
Brown openly criticized his Red Bull counterpart, Christian Horner, for not instructing Verstappen to temper his defensive tactics during their recent wheel-to-wheel battle.
"Until someone tells Max, 'Hey, that's against the regulations', he's not going to know any different," Brown stated.
"I'm disappointed that at such a great team like Red Bull, the leadership almost encourages it if you listen to what was said on the radio."
"I think we all need to have respect for regulations, and we've seen there be lack of respect (at Red Bull)," he elaborated. "Whether it's financial regulations or sporting, issues with fathers and things of that nature, I just don't think that's how we need to go racing."
When inquired whether he plans to address his concerns with Horner directly, Brown clarified, "That's the FIA's role. I don't really have any interest in speaking with Christian."
