In March, this site speculated that this final season of Zak Brown’s five-year master plan, to get McLaren to win again in Formula 1, was set to flop, but it did not and a huge dose of humble pie is set to be on our menu soon, if…
Big IF indeed. Will McLaren’s recent form, which allowed Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to dazzle during the British Grand Prix, continue henceforth? To prove that or not, the Hungarian Grand Prix is up next. Armed with updates to the MCL60 that actually worked, despite the recent upheavals at Woking HQ, Budapest is a chance for them to prove their CEO correct.
It was a bold call half a decade ago by Brown to deliver that prediction. The team were nowhere at the time, bound to Mercedes as a customer. Amid a torrid spell, reeling from the Alonso effect, basically rebuilding the organisation from scratch. Not a good place to be for one of the most important teams in F1. For some fans, McLaren is as important to the sport as Ferrari.
A winning McLaren even more so as those who were around will recall when during the course of the sport’s history, in spells, they were Kings of F1. Brown, a racing man through and through, knows this.
Brown: It’s a great time for Formula 1
Reflecting on a season dominated by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen (eight wins out of ten) and to a lesser extent Sergio Perez (two wins), Brown shared his thoughts on his team’s resurgence during an interview at the Goodwood Festival of Speed: “The racing has been unbelievably close, other than Max, even Sergio is in the mix.
“It’s a great time for F1 that in one weekend you have one team that’s second quickest and the following weekend they’re struggling to get out of Q1. That’s the competition that we’re looking for in F1, so someone will eventually catch Max. Chances are it’ll be a handful of people. Hopefully, it will be us.”
Heading to Hungary, McLaren F1 team principal Andrea Stella is upbeat but wary: “Following a successful British Grand Prix, we now turn out attention to Hungary, where we’ll aim to keep up the momentum and continue on our journey of extracting performance from the MCL60.
“The circuit in Budapest is a very different track with low-speed corners. It will present a new challenge to the now-upgraded MCL60. We remain with both feet on the ground but hopeful for another competitive weekend,” added Stella.
Norris: We’ll keep working hard for the rest of the season
Forgiven if still gushing from the Silverstone show he delivered, Norris said in McLaren’s preview of Round 11 in Budapest this weekend: “Getting on the podium at Silverstone felt really good. It’s great to be in that position. But we’ll keep working hard for the rest of the season as we keep improving our performance.
“Last week I was back at the MTC with my engineers working in preparation for Hungary. I look forward to getting back in the car and seeing what we can do. The Hungaroring is a challenging but fun track and Budapest is a great city. I’m really looking forward to getting back on track,” said Norris.
Rookie teammate Piastri, whose F1 shares continue to soar, is also relishing the British GP showing and looking forward to FP1 at Hungoring on Friday: “I’m really happy with our performance at the British GP. The upgrade felt good, and we got a lot of data to work on for the next race.
Last week I was back in the sim at the MTC preparing, taking our learnings to make sure we keep improving. I’m looking forward to returning to the Hungaroring. It can be a tricky circuit in certain places, but we enjoy the challenge. I’m excited to get into this double-header, and hopefully go well in Budapest,” added Piastri.
Silverstone on Saturday was a memorable day for McLaren, in front of their home fans delighting in their resurgence. This time the Orange in the stands was actually Papaya! P2 and P3 on the grid, only beaten by soon-to-be triple F1 World Champion Verstappen, standup and applause stuff since Max is simply on another planet these days.
Brown: You got to admire what Verstappen is doing
Finally on that subject, a last word to the McLaren boss regarding Verstappen’s dominance. Like all those with pure racing in their blood, Brown is also in awe of the RBR star and packed on the praise: “He’s doing an unbelievable job and it is great to see World Champions at the top of their game.
“You got to admire what he’s doing. But I think once you look past Max, the field is unbelievably condensed. I think it’s just going to get more exciting as we move forward.”
Whether consistent podiums lie in wait for the rest of the 2023 F1 season is wishful thinking or not remains to be seen. From the doubters [including us] there is now some hope that this might be the tastiest humble pie requiring eating. Because, as mentioned, a strong, winning McLaren (with those two incredible lads Lando and Oscar strutting their stuff) is just what the sport needs.
Vindication too for Zak, whose passion for what he does is unmatched in the F1 paddock. And, under his watch, be sure a winning McLaren will spawn a million refreshingly new Brown-induced headlines which, in the end, is what we are all about!
Headline question: Is this the McLaren F1 team Zak Brown was talking about? If it is, bring it on!
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