To find McLaren at the top, Zak Brown sets an appointment... in 2025

At McLaren, the (surprising?) 2023 season was not enough to satisfy their appetite. On the contrary, it only sharpened it! Author of nine podiums and two pole positions in Sprint during the last financial year, after a more than laborious start to the campaign, the women and men of Woking have achieved spectacular progress. Obviously, this excellent dynamic places the British team as a legitimate outsider in the race for the 2024 title.

However, among the Oranges, we prefer to calm expectations. After Oscar Piastri, it’s Zak Brown’s turn to delay. The CEO of McLaren Racing admits that his team is not yet ready to fight for the title, particularly in terms of its facilities and its organization in Woking (United Kingdom).

Under the leadership of Andrea Stella, a new technical team has been created with Peter Prodromou, who has taken up the position of technical director of aerodynamics, as well as David Sanchez who will take up his position on January 1, 2024 as technical director of car design and performance. The former director of engineering Red Bull, Rob Marshall, will also join the team that day and will serve as Technical Director, Engineering and Design. Without forgetting that McLaren recently inaugurated its brand new wind tunnel after having used that of Toyota, in Cologne (Germany).

At McLaren, everything will be ready for the 2025 season

“We have everything we need, but we need a little more time, declared Zak Brown at a press conference, on the sidelines of the Las Vegas GP last November. Upgrades have not been made with some of our newer technologies. We now have our wind tunnel, we have our new simulator, our new manufacturing unit, and it's very exciting for us because we haven't benefited from it yet. (…) We have some important recruits who will start at the beginning of January and who I think will be a big plus. We will have almost everything in place in January, but not everything... The 2024 car is already designed, so I think it will be 2025 until we have everything optimized. »

Before wanting to challenge for the title, McLaren will aim to consolidate its position among the Top Teams and achieve a first victory in F1 since 2021. The Oranges have come very close to success this season, several times, without stopping the domination of Max Verstappen and Red Bull. With an unchanged, young and talented crew, as well as new facilities, the future of the British team looks rather bright!

ALSO READ > Multi-ownership in F1: Zak Brown denounces an “unhealthy situation” and attacks Red Bull