McLaren boss Zak Brown reignites row with Racing Point rival Otmar Szafnauer

McLaren boss Zak Brown has reignited his row with Otmar Szafnauer by telling his Racing Point rival: “I’ve never been fined a dollar, let alone 400,000” for breaking Formula One rules.

Racing Point have been docked 15 points and fined £361,000 by the FIA for copying parts of the Mercedes that Lewis Hamilton drove to a sixth world championship in 2019.

Brown described claims that Racing Point had imitated the Silver Arrows simply by taking photographs as “BS”. Racing Point team principal Szafnauer then hit back by saying Brown is “not an engineer” and “knows more about historic racing than Formula One”.

Otmar Szafnauer has been involved in a war of words with Zak Brown
Otmar Szafnauer has been involved in a war of words with Zak Brown

But speaking ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, Brown responded: “I thought a lot of what Otmar said was accurate. I am not an engineer, I don’t know the rulebook from page one to the last page but as CEO you have a racing team and it is their job to know that.

“In my time leading McLaren I have never been fined a dollar, let alone 400,000. I have never been docked points. Otmar thought it was 7.5 points until Sky TV pointed out it was 15.

“As far as historic racing, people who know me know I enjoy it and I would invite Otmar to come and join me because he has got an historic car that he is currently racing.”

Racing Point have denied any wrongdoing and have appealed against the FIA’s verdict. McLaren noted their intention to protest the punishment for not being severe enough before deciding against a former appeal. Ferrari and Renault are continuing their legal action against the Silverstone-based team.

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