Zak Brown immediately contacted 'arrogant' Verstappen after interview

The McLaren team CEO recently granted an interview where he stated that Verstappen might come across as a bit arrogant. “He can be a bruiser, too aggressive on track. His arrogance comes out then."
Speaking to De Telegraaf, he explains that this wasn’t how it was meant. “I called him a ‘bruiser,’ a fighter, but that’s actually a compliment. I call Ayrton Senna that too, and he’s my favourite driver of all time.”

After the remark by the American motorsports chief about Verstappen, he revealed that he immediately got in touch with the four-time Formula 1 world champion. The 54-year-old also stressed that he regretted that his quotes were ‘taken out of context’ after the interview with The Telegraph.

The McLaren Formula 1 team boss wrote in his new book ‘Seven Tenths of a Second’ that it sometimes appears as though the Red Bull Racing team is even afraid of the driver. “Sometimes, way before Christian Horner is fired in the middle of the 2025 season, it actually feels like Max is running the team. Everyone seems to be subservient to him. Everyone seems to be afraid of him,” he wrote in his new book.

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