“The Lowest Point”: McLaren’s Latest Advances Towards Red Bull Saddens the Papaya Army

It was not too long ago when Zak Brown came down heavily on Red Bull for their 2021 cost cap breach. The comments drove a wedge between the McLaren CEO and RB’s team principal, Christian Horner. However, as they say, success trumps all. And boy has Red Bull’s 2022 success put every other dominant campaign to shame. Resultantly, staunch critic Brown has been forced to change his narrative, looking to get some much-needed help to overturn the dwindling fate of his team. The move, however, hasn’t gone down too well with the fans of the papaya team.

Even before the FIA released its report on Red Bull’s 2021 cost cap breach, the F1 world was filled with rumors of their overspending. While fans of other teams took digs at the Austrian team, team bosses did not hold back either. Among them was Zak Brown, who downright accused them of “cheating”. He later refused to take his words back which many felt were too harsh, and stood his ground.

McLaren fans slam the move as Zak Brown visits Red Bull Powertrains facility

Despite being a renowned supercar manufacturer, McLaren buys their power units in F1 from outside. Currently, it’s Mercedes that provides them with their PUs, a deal that will see them continue using them for another 3 years. However, F1, in furtherance of its commitment to the environment, has decided to make an overhaul in the engine department. Starting in 2026, F1 cars will sport engines that will extract a lot more power from the batteries and lesser from fuel. That has got teams scrambling to sign partnerships beginning with one between the Milton-Keynes-based team and Ford.

It was earlier reported that Zak Brown had visited Red Bull’s powertrain facility but no media outlet was certain of the development. However, as per Independent UK’s report, an RB insider has confirmed the rumors now.

Have a look at how fans reacted to the development.

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Being a car manufacturer, fans expected McLaren to be the one developing their own powertrains, however, it has gone the other way around with RB partnering up with Honda and making their own engines.

As the news of Brown’s visit to the RB facility came in, rumors began to fly about Lando Norris‘ possible move to partner up with Max Verstappen.

One user felt that if Ron Dennis was still at the helm of the Papaya team, he never would have allowed this to happen.

At least there was one fan who was excited about the possibility of witnessing this partnership unfold.

Watch This Story: Red Bull and McLaren Quarrel Over 2022 F1 Cars

What do you think about McLaren possibly striking a deal with the reigning champions to use their engines in the future? Is it a step backward or a step in the right direction?