Zak Brown with strange ‘wish’ his drivers crash – It may come to pass that the 2025 Formula One Spanish Grand Prix was the watershed moment for the season. McLaren defied expectations that their flexible front wings would fail the new more stringent tests introduced in Barcelona by the FIA.
Further, after a successful introduction of a new floor in Imola where Verstappen dominated the McLaren pair, Red Bull were hopeful it would deliver again come the well trodden turns of the Circuit de Catalunya. Yet in soaring temperatures on the Iberian peninsula, once again McLaren demonstrated their superior tyre wear when the barometer is high.
Red Bull’s three stop effort to counter this in the Grand Prix was well planned, but with Verstappen closing in on second place Lando Norris, a late safety car deployment became the source of confusion in the Red Bull garage. The ensuing chaos at the restart saw Verstappen finally classified P10 after a time penalty issued by the stewards dropped the world champion from his fifth place at the chequered flag.
Horner refuses to give up hope
Now a distant 49 points behind the championship leader, it feels as though a fifth consecutive title for Verstappen is a bridge too far or a mountain too high. Yet despite the Spanish setback, Christian horned is not ready to throw the towel in yet. “I think there’s a significant gap now, but there’s an awful lot of points still available,” Horner stated to assembled media.
“He’s out there doing his best,” Horner explained when asked about the difficulties of the day for Verstappen. “Of course, it’s always difficult when it just looks easier for the car ahead. Compared to the rest of the field, you can see we were able to pull away in each of the stints. It is just that McLaren are clearly a step ahead,” concluded the Red Bull boss.
Yet its increasingly likely that this season will be a re-enactment of the Hamilton/Rosberg days at Mercedes, but this time for McLaren. Three seasons in a row the childhood friends battled it out to be top dog at the silver arrows team, knowing that was enough to be world champion.
And as Rosberg recalls, managing two drivers who know one or other of them will claim their maiden F1 title this season, is no easy task. As did Toto Wolff back in 2014-16, Zak Brown has entrusted his drivers to treat each other fairly on track and to follow ‘papaya rules.’ The instructions are “race each other respectfully. Give each other enough room and don’t touch each other.”
Rosberg expects “trouble” at McLaren
Team orders have been shunned by Brown and Stella, yet Rosberg questions the wisdom of this approach claiming the inevitable intra team crash is not far away. “History tells us harmony can be fragile when the stakes are high,” said the 2016 F1 champion while broadcasting for Sky F1. “McLaren’s emergence as leaders in both championships could reignite a familiar tension.”
Nico notes the similarities between McLaren now and his time alongside Lewis and how when the car is so much quicker than the rest of the field, it is your team mate who each week you’re battling for pole position and the lead into turn one. “And the question is, can it stay harmonious like that? Or is it also going to run into big trouble?” Queried Rosberg.
The closest on track battles this year have been between one of the McLaren drivers and Max Verstappen, in fact the closest Norris and Piastri have come to a loss of harmony was in Barcelona. There Lando attempted a “cheeky” tow from his team mate – who refused to oblige – as he set about his final attempt at claiming pole position.
“It’s difficult to treat drivers fairly, because there’s always one strategy that’s better than the other, or only one new part that arrives at the track and who gets that. To always keep it fair is very, very difficult,” added Rosberg. Yet in terms of upgrades, McLaren have brought few this season and when they have they’ve been available to both drivers to try. In terms of strategy, on the whole McLaren have made the same choices for both their drivers, despite them at times running 1-2 where the second driver may which to try something different.
Brown: ‘Bring on the crash’
Theres a feeling that McLaren are running their strategy in a similar fashion to the Red Bull days of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. Then the driver on pole or leading the race would have priority, making the dash for turn one the most important seconds of the entire race weekend.
Rosberg concludes: “McLaren is in a fantastic position to fight for the Drivers’ Championship as well this year, but it’s also theirs to lose. The pressure rises significantly, and the driver situation is also one to watch for now, very harmonious, but might it go out of control soon?”
During there flyaway races back in April, McLaren CEO Zak Brown made an extra-ordinary comment when asked about his drivers not being given cream orders. “The good of the team is to try and get 1-2s,” he told Channel 4. “It’s up to them to decide who is P1 and who is P2. They are free to race” Yet Brown believes it is inevitable there will be a coming together between the McLaren drivers, hoping it is sooner rather than later so the matter can be put to bed and not a continuous line of questioning for him to face.
“You haven’t seen that really epic battle [between them] yet. I think it’s a matter of time [before they are racing wheel to wheel for the win]. They will race each other cleanly and hard. It’s not ‘if’ something happens, it’s ‘when’ something happens…,” predicts the American. Bring on the crash, its just a matter of time eh?
McLaren have nothing to fear
Of course nine years on from the infamous battle in Barcelona between Rosberg and Hamilton, where the pair took each other out of the race at turn four, media interest was high as the McLaren duo occupied the front row for the 2025 Spanish GP. Yet it was not McLaren on McLaren which was the early tussle, but Verstappen passing Norris into turn one which separated him from his team mate for the rest of the race.
The reality is, even were both McLaren drivers to take each other out in Canada, for example. Even were Verstappen to win the race he would remain 24 points adrift of Oscar Piastri. Brown calling for his drivers to get it over with and crash – is an unusual wish for someone in charge of an F1 team – but maybe its an indication how how confident the team from Woking really are. Even both their drivers wiping each other out won’t affect the final result of the year for the team.
Team boss backs Perez F1 return with Cadillac
Whilst rumours swirl around the Formula One paddock concerning more Red Bull internal politics, one thing is clear as crystal, they have not solved the problem of their second driver alongside max Verstappen. Having religiously promoted from within. Red Bull made a break with tradition when they signed the redundant Sergio Perez to race for the Milton Keynes based squad back in 2021.
The Racing Point driver (now Aston Martin) had been allowed to run down his contract and with quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel waiting in the wings, Perez found himself out of an F1 drive as the 2020 season drew to a close.
In fact the season had concluded in Abu Dhabi some two weeks earlier when the white smoke from the enclave back at HQ was released and the Mexican driver announced as Max Verstappen’s team mate. In the two years since the departure of Daniel Ricciardo, the team had experimented with Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon alongside Verstappen, and although the British-Thai driver appeared to fair as well as any of his predecessors, the decision was made to drop him for 2021 and recruit Perez…. READ MORE
With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
