Red Bull Just SHATTERED McLaren's Playbook

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]Red Bull has just thrown McLaren a bit of a curveball because they're stirring things up in a way Zach is feeling uncomfortable with. And I thought this particular argument was over and done with. Apparently not. You see folks, Red Bull team boss Lauren Mechi sat next to McLaren's Andrea Stella during the FIA press conference at the Canadian Grand Prix. He got asked about Max's race engineer GP and the team principal claim he first made in Miami. And instead of doing the obvious thing and just laughing it off and said, "Oh, what was bygones be bygones?" No. Neckis decided to um uh pick up that grenade again and hurl it right in front of Andrea's face.

[00:00:36]What I mean, I thought this was all meant to be over and done with. I thought this got settled back in Miami after Zack Brown called it absolute complete nonsense. And then of course Andrea Stella did his silly season smile and just called it poison biscuits and that metaphor he uses all the time. Oh, it got weeled out again. In fact, there are even reports that all of the relevant parties, including the Red Bull boss Oliver Minsloff, sat down in Miami on the Sunday to try and hash things out and come up with some sort of calming down method, as in walking away from a potential powder keg and things were ultimately resolved and clarified. You know, a prop peace summit. No biscuits were harmed in the making of that meeting, allegedly. And then at the next race, this is what L had to say for your consideration.

[00:01:19]EIM. Look, it's certainly my understanding that GP is going to McLaren to become the team principal again to Andrea's face. The question we're chewing on here today, ladder folks, is this. Why did Mechis decide to do that? When Christian got dispatched last year and Mecky's took his place, you'd think this rivalry might have softened like his demeanor because her was a seasoned PR boxer because every fight felt built up for the highlights reel and drive to survive. And when you look to Zack Brown, he arrived in 2016 and that was at the beginning of the war of words between Toto Wolf and Christian her. He grew up in that environment and decided, "Yeah, you know what? I'm going to type a go take some pot shots OF MY OWN." YEAH. AS IN, he very much embraced that mentality. And when it was his time for his team to really come up to the four and challenge Red Bull, oh, he was ready to go. Just taking needles right here and poaching employees as well to come up with his own version of Red Bull. like how Aston Martin's trying to do the same thing with its own personnel. But anyway, Zach knew how to poke Christian and Christian knew how to poke Zack back. But Law is very much different because you've only just got to look at the man. He does not get into boxing matches. He came up through the FIA, then through Ferrari, VCarb, and then Red Bull called him upstairs. He cuts a far more institutional figure than Christian, giving those polite, careful answers that sound like they've already passed through three legal departments and one very tired comms person. But when you look at that Canada line, it's carefully spoken yet still absolute dynamite. So, I want to chew over that for you, as well as three things. First, why Mecky's fight felt different and why Brown is chewing over this considerably, and why his reaction was just so weird. Second, Stella's response to all of that cut very different answers. There were two of them, but they did not remain consistent at all. And that is something worth mentioning. And third, where the drivers fit. Because in matters regarding F1 governance, somehow someway the drivers get involved and they usually end up losing out. And you may ask yourself, well, how did I get here? You got to go back to April 9th when McLaren announces that GP will arrive at their team as chief racing officer no later than 2028.

[00:03:29]A bit later, Stellar addresses Ferrari rumors with calm denial. Then Zach calls the Lambi team principal talk complete nonsense and says a team or two are staring it. Note the plural, a team or two, not only Red Bull. And then Miami happens. And that of course set up a lot of Fiori at the time as in like, oh, that's a little puly. But unfortunately for many who really like drama and for many within the paddock, it all got resolved within a couple of days in the usual manner as in it was all done by committee. It was all done behind closed doors. Everyone had pretended that the smell had dissipated, but then Long comes and rips another one 19 days after the peace talks, less than three weeks.

[00:04:11]So yeah, the timing is very structural here. So thusly, I conclude that I have no choice but to hold the foam of doubt here because you do not make peace offers like this then break them within 19 days unless there is a good reason to do so. You do not do that by accident unless of course you're lawis. And I think what will really unnerve McLaren is that this was not a typical Horner hand grenade. It was just something that came around again that they thought that was all done and dust and it had been resolved. And I very much think that everyone with the McLaren is a little bit um nervous because as has become clear, Hornet likes to win the moment as in if there is something going on he likes to go well you know there's always this thing yada yada and he just wants to try and have the last laugh. Whereas Mechis, he's more than happy, as we have now found out, to just let things linger and then just mention it again. Then let it linger and then mention it again, fester almost. And the target starts to squirm. And you remember all that stuff when it broke out. Zack Brown's response eventually. Um, well, I'm just going to tell you this via Sky Sports. Him. He knows something I don't apparently.

[00:05:20]That's an interesting little word that.

[00:05:22]Now, okay, to be fair, Zach might have just been mocking him right here because this is Zack Brown. Sarcasm is a perfectly reasonable response, but still feels off. I mean, why didn't he just simply say more of the complete nonsense stuff or say Laurel is wrong? GP is coming to be the chief racing officer as in I said it before and I'll say it again. Make it more definite. But no, he's just chosen a side door option for that and it's just really really weird.

[00:05:50]Yeah, it's not an exact confession, but when you think about it, this is Zack Brown. This really sounded this response half ass to me. Wouldn't you agree?

[00:05:59]Because when you do compare it to when Stella was being mooted to Ferrari, Zach was far more viciferous. He told the paddock to stop being silly. And then we got a third response from Brown. The Pastry to Red Bull noise this week. With the Stapen's future still a question mark and Red Bull trying to look stable while not being especially fast, Pastry has become the obvious fantasy football pick. As I've mentioned on this channel in recent videos, Brown got asked about that, too. And instead of just viciferously denying it or calling that complete nonsense, too, he went on some kind of corporate spiel saying, "Oh, we're here to create an environment where everyone's really happy." I'm I'm paraphrasing a little bit.

[00:06:34]>> You know, we want our drivers to not want to drive anywhere else. And yeah, we just want to have an environment where they want to stay here forever.

[00:06:40]>> And that's just a huge climb down from the start of complete nonsense to then using the word apparently to then create an environment. Only one of those three things is an absolute denial. The first one around the thing that he can actually control and has some oversight with as in the contract of Andrea Stellar. The other two things, well, he doesn't have as much control about what GP's intentions are or what he said to me or what Pastry's future might be and who he's been talking to outside of McLaren's working hours. And it just feels like a brand new battleground has formed between himself and the chief of Red Bull Racing. Now, do you recall the thing I mentioned about Stellar earlier that he gave two different questions during the FIA press conference and how they really differed in tone and that in itself is its own little signal. Allow me to share that with you. First, the reporter stacked the whole silly season buffet GP him to Ferrari and then Pastry to Red Bull. In response, Stella was warm and personable. He said he was seeing the best Oscar in the cockpit right now and a happy Oscar outside of it, but the team was in its strongest shape since he became the team principal. He also said he was definitely fully committed to McLaren.

[00:07:47]Then talked about maximum stability and filling a new trophy cabinet at the MTC, which is a very McLaren way to say, "Oh, oh, look at us. We've been winning so much. We have to buy brand new furniture. First world problems and all that." But it's also something I would call a proper denial. As in, the environment that he's in right now is pretty good. He's happy with what Pastry is doing for the team and that they're talking about success and glory and he's doing that together. and you feel like, yes, that's a really, really convincing answer. Thank you, Andrea, for calming things down. But then things changed when Sky Sports Craig Slater came in and asked far more specific questions around GP and what his future job descriptions would be and what his duties would be.

[00:08:29]As in, could maybe GP succeed Stella eventually? Or maybe Andrea takes on a more executive role and is not the team principal in the years to come. Watch what happens next.

[00:08:42]For us, it's important to employ the best talents in Formula 1 because Zach and I want to build the strongest team.

[00:08:47]I have been part of the Ferrari team in the early 2000s, and I know what level of seniority, expertise, leadership you need to be successful. Employing TP is part of that vision. Sorry. Which is a vision of creating additive leadership that can integrate with the present leadership. I am personally very stretched in my role as team principal and I need a strong group of leaders working with me. Any other speculation leads us back to the silly season. Now, that sounds a little bit different to me. Does it to you? Bolder than the first round of questions right here.

[00:09:17]Instead of personal commitment and trophies and really wholesome stuff, he moved into additive structure and leadership qualities. Okay, mate. Just just say he went corporate with that one. And okay, this doesn't prove that the rumor is true, but it's just the way in Formula 1 and in real life sometimes.

[00:09:36]And sometimes people can relate to this phrase if it's hurled at you. You just go, "Well, it's not what you said, but the way you said it, as in tone, watch the tone." And notice what McLaren hasn't done yet. No massive counter briefings or sharper Zack denials to match Mecky's confidence. Stella's answer was the answer. That suggests the team isn't worried or they just don't want to give the story any more time.

[00:09:57]You know what? That might be the right call here because if they did actually respond to Mecky saying that again with another very viciferous attack, all that's going to do is be absolute joyous gold for the media. As in, oh, McLaren are rattled. Oh, is there a stellar succession plan? Oh, Zack Brown seemed angrily eating a biscuit. I mean, you know what they'll do, the media. And the neck gave us something else. on the Friday he said obviously we had a number of conversations before he was going to make the decision. Poor baby. He's implying this understanding came from talks before Lambias chose to begin his exit velocity from Red Bull. Now again we don't know exactly what GP said to me or the context. We don't know whether this is a title thing or a long-term thing or a paddock telephone thing. The fact there were multiple conversations as in it wasn't just a oneanddone thing is enough destabilizing proof for it to be effective anyway. That's the point.

[00:10:52]And it's becoming increasingly clear, I think I've seen enough actually, that the way that Mecky's works with his way of responding to criticism or teams trying to needle him and his operation is to work through the media. He is not going to be punching his rivals.

[00:11:06]Figuratively speaking, of course, although between Christian and Toto, I think it could have easily gone literal.

[00:11:11]In short, you could say that maybe he kills with kindness. gives institutional answers to questions that end up being absolutely potent and make people go, "Did he really say that? And why is he bringing that up again?" It's all really polite and under the table. It's almost like you're stabbed with a fountain pen or something. It's a very classy way to go, but someone's still bleeding and you're really going to want to know where that blood came from and whose blood is it. Now, let's get back to comparing Lauren with Christian because this is where my theory really, really lives. Because Horner grew up as an F1 team principal in a very tribal way, very much at the peak of the Piranha Club. Fights were built for cameras. So he would say, "Oh well, we're not the fastest scene to be sure." While the RV19 was doing its thing, that was enough. Mechis didn't grow up in that environment. His fights look like answers because that's how he presents them. They're neutral and almost reluctant in a way, as in, well, I don't really want to talk about it, but okay.

[00:12:08]Reveal just enough and don't swing your sword around. instead place it gently on the table and let everyone notice what's going on here. And again, there's actual blood on it. And as the Papaya team rose up over 23 and 24, her attacked their racing credentials as they rebuilt.

[00:12:24]Whenever they made a wobble, Christian was on them. But the difference is is that all of that stuff and all of the criticism that her laid out at McLaren could be resolved on the track. As in, this was a lot of stuff that we could actually see the general public. But with what Mechis is targeting, it's all behindthe-scenes stuff about the management. Is the structure actually that safe and robust as we thought it was? Is Stella really the long-term prospect here? Or is GP slowly going to work his way up the ranks and eventually become the team principal? Or if things go a certain way, or if McLaren drops off in 2027, could GP make a sudden promotion before he even starts? That's the kind of thing that will live on in the media center for a very long time.

[00:13:04]If there's just a snifter of something that could enhance that story even more or another quote from Mecky's or Brown or Stella or somebody else, it'll just come right back up again to be asked at a future interview and therefore the story lives on without really Mecky's having to do anything anymore. You'll get more and more questions about the McLaren succession plan. And that is free real estate for Red Bull. You could easily say it's the ultimate revenge for taking the likes of Marshall and Courtney Mey and now GP. It's absolute gold for people within the media, including myself. Now, I'll get the spanner out for this next bit because there is a lot of logic at play here, but there are still some things that have not been fully confirmed yet or things that we as the general public may never know about. But, as I've said in many videos in the past, I do think there is a pattern here because GP's going to McLaren no later than in 2028.

[00:13:56]It could be even sooner than that if certain negotiations go a certain way.

[00:13:59]Then of course the Stella being linked fairly or unfairly to Ferrari in various rumors and based on his previous connections to Ferrari, they're not completely ridiculous. And Ferrari, well, I mean, they're Ferrari. Their internal politics are akin to an Italian soap opera. It's just so full of drama and so unpredictable. You never know what's going to happen. And also, you really got to consider that eventually if Fred Vasser can't get the results and there is an Italian team principal who's been winning constructors and drivers championships recently, they're going to want to talk to Andrea, especially since he used to work for them. You could probably based on all of that stuff start to think that many people within the paddic, including journalists, will start to be looking at all of that stuff and be going, "Hang on a minute." And throughout all of this, Mercedes are winning races. McLaren and Red Bull are fighting over leadership for 2028 whilst they're losing to Toto Wolf, which makes the leadership war that year even more potent because both teams are fighting over who runs the show in the future while currently being unable to topple Wolf. Becky's though knows the Paddock can see everything that's going on here.

[00:15:00]And once a rumor has logic, it stops needing as much proof to become useful.

[00:15:04]Because after McLaren bashing Red Bull over the head in recent years and taking many of their best and brightest from the last two decades, GP I think was the last straw. So fight back in a way which McLaren isn't used to. Maybe find a type of poison biscuit that Andrea does not have the antidote to. Now one thing worth flagging here before we wrap things up because the Stella to Ferrari stuff, I don't know. I feel like there's something there because yes, Lewis Hamilton joined Ferrari for the project that Fred Verso was cooking up. And yes, of course, Fredver recently had a contract extension which was a multi-year deal. And some sources are saying it goes on until at least 2027 because by saying multi-year deal, that means at minimum 2 years. It could be three, four, five, but it could again easily be just two. And throughout all of that, Lewis was pushing back hard on retirement rumors and saying to everybody, I'm going to be here for the next 5 years, man. Get used to it. And what he also said, what I didn't cover in my recent video is that he skipped out on the simulator. And as you've been seeing at the Canadian Grand Prix, he has actually turned a little bit of a corner and looked quite potent. Now, I'm not saying Lewis talked smack about the simulator or the people who work there.

[00:16:14]He actually praised both parties, but he also said the correlation has really not been working out for him. And that's a very delicate thing to say. Compliment the tool, but question its potency. all important leverage in case there is about to be a struggle for his future.

[00:16:29]And it's not only Hamilton having to manage politics because Pastry is doing the same thing regarding the Red Bull rumors. He said there have been no discussions, but he also called the link flattering and said it hopefully proves his stock as a driver. So yes, of course, he did shut down the practical bit as in he is not going to Red Bull.

[00:16:47]He hasn't been talking to them. But he didn't throw away the compliment. A very very smart move of you Oscar because this is a driver who very much wanted to make it clear to everybody that he does not want you to forget about the Red Bull door. He doesn't need to open it or anything. He just has to go like well it's nice to know that they are thinking of me. But the things that Stellar and Hamilton and Pestri have been saying it's very very obvious that leverage is power. You want to have a certain leverage with Oscar. It's a case of well yeah I could go somewhere else. It's nice to know that I'm wanted. Hamilton in the case of like, well, I'm doing pretty good, but I don't need this particular bit of equipment, and I'm prepared to fight you if it gets to that position. Hopefully, it does not. And then Stella with Ferrari, he's going, well, look at all the trophies I won with McLaren. I want to win more. I want to see that future trophy cabinet being filled up. And I wanted to have something to do with it. Whilst Mecky's didn't create all of the oxygen and the leverage within the room, he certainly airrated the place, didn't it? So, where does that leave us then, ladder folk?

[00:17:42]Mechisy fights differently than Horner.

[00:17:44]Enough said. But I have one more cherry on top for you and it's something to do with that conversation Yoss and Toto had and it just shows that Meckis is not absolutely indestructible or impervious to criticism or having his own little bit of a you know wibbly wobbly answers.

[00:18:02]Cameras picked up the moment when the two men talked. Alto motor and sport got the photo and it circulated across the paddic before media day was even done.

[00:18:10]By the time the following day came around, Meckis had to answer questions about it. You want to know what he said?

[00:18:15]He said the meeting was completely natural. Said there was no intention particular behind it. That Max was racing a GT3 Mercedes at the Nurburg Ring last week. So, two old friends were just having a chat about that. Does that sound familiar, folks? That's the same softer denial register Brown gave on Lambias 3 weeks ago. The same one Stella shifted into in the specific succession question during the press conference.

[00:18:35]And Meckis deployed it to his own driver. The man running the McLaren destabilization program is being destabilized himself by Wolf in the same paddock at the same race weekend. All the stuff that Mecky's is trying to do with Brown, Wolf is trying to do with Mechis. As in Toto is trying to sus out law on what he's about. Because even though Red Bull are very much behind the likes of McLaren, Ferrari, and Mercedes, they may not be for long, especially if they get their ducks in a row regarding their chassis. So it's best for Toto right now if Lauren is still in the job and will be so for a while to just size him up. And one thing he could have sized up right now is that Mechis uses information overload rather than just using pantomime theatrics as in getting all shouty and stuff that Netflix would lap up. It's a more uh insidious than that because all of that stuff with the Ting principal GP thing, that was so deliberate of a choice of law. And I still can't believe he did that with Andrea right there to his face. It's like, you might be thinking I'm talking more about F1 politics than I am about the driving at the moment. But come on, this is the beginning of a new regulation cycle and everyone's thinking about everything else. It's such a fascinating little thing to talk about, especially if you're not a particular fan of the actual racing regulations themselves. But whether or not that was brave or cheeky or the most polite act of paddic violence for Lauren to undertake, we'll have to debate that for a good long while. But if you ask me whether the chain is real, I'm not sure.

[00:20:03]I can't tell you Stella's going to Ferrari or GP will become McLaren's new boss. But what I can tell you is that once the paddock starts acting like something could happen, the consequences arrive whether or not the thing itself actually converts. Mechis is trying to weaponize uncertainty. And Brown, whilst he may have tried to scoff it or be sy with it or just laugh it off, this is not something Christian her often did or he didn't do at all. He just had a boxing match or just go, "Oh yeah, Zach, you're annoying. Yeah, I don't like you." And Zach was like, "Well, I don't like you too, Christian. How about we have a bit of fisty cups, you know, around the pub? Yeah. But yeah, no, this is clearly something where it's like, well, apparently you said something like that. I don't know. It's just like that's the best you got, Zach. And I'm sure Red Bull's enjoying the discomfort going on McLaren. And all the while Ferrari is lurking right there watching and waiting. But if you want to know who's winning the current round of the McLaren Red Bull war, I do not think it's McLaren at the moment. as in this in terms of the new relationship between Mecky's and Brown and Stella. First blood to Mecky's. Stay sharp, folks.

[00:21:10]Something is happening and maybe within Marinelo. Just just pay attention. But at the same time, Wolf is not hanging around. Yes, he may not be getting his way entirely with the regulations and the ADU, but he is certainly being able to find a way to be able to undermine all three of the parties, Vaser, Mecky's, and Brown and Stella because, well, I mean, look at the constructors in the drivers championship. Enough said because points mean prizes. And for the fact that Mecky's is also having to give his own soft denials. And something else that's similar right now is this video over here because it's just popped up on your feed. I'll just go and freshen myself up and maybe go and have a cold bath and I'll be right with you.