“You said you only win with the best car”

Maybe he had kept it for a long time. When there are months Zak Brown suggested that Max Verstappen won because he had the best car, it stuck with the Dutchman, and this Sunday (or Saturday in Las Vegas) after being crowned quadruple champion, he remembered it.

Zak Brown he said on the F1 podcast'Beyond the grid»: “People ask me all the time: “Is it the car or is it the driver?” » And it's like, “Well, it's both.” I think the way I answer that question is there are six or seven drivers on the grid who would be world champions in this Red Bull. And as well as assuring that several members of the current grid would win with Verstappen's car, he concluded: “As great as Max is, and he is one of the best in history, I don't think that he will win the world championship today anyway.” another car other than Red Bull.

The truth is that Verstappen did indeed win the 2024 world championship with Red Bull Racing, but since midway he has no longer been the dominant car he was in the past and at the start of the year, and in fact he went 10 races without winning, in fact from June to November.

Interrupting an interview with Sky to congratulate Verstappen, who was passing by, came the exchange between the McLaren F1 director and Verstappen, which went like this:

-Brown: “Congratulations!”

-Verstappen: “You pushed us to the maximum!”

-Brown: “We did it, but you deserved it. Four world championships. Now you have surpassed my friend Senna”

-Verstappen: “As you said, before I could only win with the fastest car, but this year it's a little different…”.

-Brown: “Exactly. Well done.”

The tone was friendly and neither of them stopped smiling, but the returned dart stayed there.

These statements by Brown to the “Beyond the Grid” podcast were not the only friction between the two, because after the McLaren team boss of F1, and Verstappen responded to his country's media by ignoring it, .

After the prank in Las Vegas, it seems clear that he knows who he is.