Zak Brown’s 2-Year-Old Prophecy Comes True as McLaren Emerges as Giant-Slayer: “There Will Be No Excuses”

In 2022, McLaren’s Formula 1 CEO Zak Brown made a bold prediction about his team’s future, which has now come true. Brown claimed that McLaren would be a front-running outfit by the 2024 season, once the team’s infrastructure caught up with the leading sides.

McLaren had quite a miserable start to its 2022 campaign. Despite the lack of performance and the required infrastructure to improve it at the time, Lando Norris managed to secure a surprising podium finish at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in Imola.

However, Brown remained grounded and did not let it raise the expectations from the team unrealistically. Speaking with the Daily Telegraph, as quoted by Ben Hunt in Norris’ book, ‘Lando Norris: A Biography’, Brown admitted that McLaren’s lack of a solid technical infrastructure was holding them back, particularly their reliance on Toyota’s wind tunnel in Cologne, Germany.

“I don’t want to make excuses, but right now, we’re behind and we know why; we don’t have the technical infrastructure that the others have. But for the 2024 season? In theory, there will be no excuses left other than it’s damn tough and there are four or five other teams that have no excuses,” Brown said.

Fast forward to 2024, and McLaren has indeed become the main challenger to Red Bull, closing the gap in the constructors’ championship with each race.

What led to McLaren’s rise back to the top of the Formula 1 grid?

The team’s rise can be traced back to changes that have taken place in the last couple of seasons. One such crucial addition was the new state-of-the-art wind tunnel facility at their Woking headquarters which became operational late in the 2023 season.

However, the team has also benefited from a leadership overhaul and the addition of key personnel. Andrea Stella’s promotion to Team Principal in 2022 marked the beginning of this transformation.

Under Stella and Brown’s guidance, McLaren introduced a new Formula 1 Technical Executive Team, with three specialized Technical Directors. Peter Prodromou was appointed as Technical Director of Aerodynamics, while David Sanchez returned to McLaren as Technical Director of Car Concept and Performance after a decade at Ferrari.

Meanwhile, Neil Houldey was promoted to Technical Director of Engineering and Design followed by the addition of Rob Marshall as the Chief Designer after spending almost two decades with Red Bull. Brown has, on several occasions, credited this new leadership for the resurgence of his team.

And then there is McLaren’s super competitive driver lineup as well. Norris, who Brown once described as “mega” and comparable in talent to Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, has continued to impress. The British driver’s long-term commitment to McLaren has paid off, and both he and Oscar Piastri have tasted victory in 2024.