McLaren CEO, Zak Brown has spoken in an open letter of the team’s “formidable challenge” to build upon this season in 2024.
Having endured a disastrous start to the season, McLaren turned their season around to take one sprint victory and 12 podiums across Sprint and Grand Prix races in total.
That poor start however led to a shake-up of technical staff after Saudi Arabia in which James Key departed the team, although McLaren’s season didn’t truly turn around until a crucial upgrade in Austria, which saw Lando Norris finish on the podium.
Norris went on to enjoy nine further podium finishes this season and even led at the start of his home race at Silverstone, UK, before he finished runner-up ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in a rare double British podium on home soil.
Brown in an open letter to fans proceeded to select Norris’ start at Silverston as his “personal highlight” as he explaind: “A personal highlight for me this year was our home race at Silverstone when Lando burst into the lead at the start, with Oscar following close behind.
“Hearing the British fans erupt from the grandstands was a truly spine-tingling moment.”
Brown went on to praise Norris for his performances as he continued: “Lando has been at the top of his game in 2023, showing tremendous pace and terrific racecraft.
“He can often be hard on himself when he makes a mistake, but his seven podiums are a testament to his speed and determination. That first win for him is just around the corner.”
Norris this season had a new teammate in Oscar Piastri who led his first F1 race in the Belgian Sprint before he went on to win the Qatar Sprint, which was one of four podium finishes for the top rookie of the season.
Brown consequently believes that McLaren “have the strongest driver pairing” in F1 heading into 2024, as he described Piastri as “a revelation”, in a campaign where a slice of safety car timing luck went against the Australian.
Piastri also committed his future to McLaren until the end of 2026 with Brown confident that the Australian will ‘continue to impress as he gains more experience.’
Brown therefore is confident that McLaren can “build upon this year’s progress” with view to challenging Red Bull, Mercedes and Ferrari “even harder next year.”
Next season will see little change in rules which Brown believes will make their task tougher as he explained: “We face a formidable challenge next season in continuing to close the gap to the front.
“All teams are locked in a quest for car development and greater pace that is just as fierce off the track as it is on it, but our team will rise to the challenge with its usual determination and relentless dedication.”
Looking beyond McLaren, Brown paid tribute to three-time champion, Max Verstappen for his record-breaking dominance with Red Bull, as he applauded the 26 year-old Dutchman for his success.
Red Bull meanwhile broke McLaren’s recird for most consecutive race wins by a single team in Hungary, of which Brown felt that it “was fitting” that Norris shared the podium with Verstappen that season despite accidentally breaking Verstappen’s trophy.
Former McLaren driver, Fernando Alonso also got acknowledged by Brown for achieving eight podiums as the eldest driver on the grid.
“It was also great to see our former driver and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso proving that at 42, age is no barrier to success — scoring six podiums in the first eight races.”
Next season sees F1 set for its’ longest ever season with 24 races including the return of Emilia Romagna and Chinese Grands Prix since 2022 and 2019 respectively.
Brown stated in his open letter than 24 races per season feels “optimum,” yet iterated that there is need to ensure an “invigorated” calendar with rotation of races in order to reach new parts of the world like Vietnam who are yet to host a F1 Grand Prix.
From a team perspective, Brown added that calendar rotation would benefit teams with “a fresh challenge to the drivers and engineers by keeping them on their toes.”
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