Christian Horner F1 return mooted by Zak Brown: ‘It’d be great to have him back’

Zak Brown and Christian Horner were fierce rivals in the F1 paddock (Getty)

"In today's day and age, if that's permitted, I think it runs a real high risk of compromising the integrity of sporting fairness,” said Brown, who has long voiced his disapproval of one company owning two teams.

"And what would turn fans off is if they don't feel like there's 11 independent racing teams. I've been vocal about it from day one. We've seen it play out on track in a sporting way, with Daniel Ricciardo taking the fastest lap point away [Singapore GP, 2024] from us to help the other team.

"We've seen IP [intellectual property] violations on the Aston Martin/Racing Point brake ducts. We've seen employees move overnight, where we either have to wait and sometimes make financial deals, which then impact us in the cost cap.

"So when you see other teams that move from one to the other and then also without financial compensation, that's an unfair financial advantage. That's an unfair sporting advantage. We've seen Ferrari and Haas move people back and forth, and we know with IP, there's a lot in your head with that.

Brown has criticised the concept of “A and B teams’ in the sport (Getty)

"Can you imagine a Premier League game where you've got two teams owned by the same group - one's going to get relegated if they lose, and the other can afford to lose? That's what we run the risk of.

“So I think having engine power units as suppliers is as far as it should go and then in my view, all 11 teams should be absolutely as independent as possible because I think it has a high risk, and we have seen it, to compromise the integrity of the sport."

”It applies to anybody and everybody. So A and B teams, co-ownership, regardless of who it is, I frown upon it. I don't think it's healthy for the sport.”

F1 returns with the Miami Grand Prix, round four of the 2026 season, on 1-3 May.