McLaren displayed an impressive performance this season as they finished in the top-three of the Constructors’ Championship. For any team, their young drivers’ program is an essential aspect of their talent acquisition.

Red Bull are infamous for running through drivers from their junior program. In the last two years, they have gone through two talents from their program. In 2019, Red Bull pushed Pierre Gasly out mid-season. His replacement, Alex Albon was also out of a contract after one year.

Meanwhile, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown pointed out a key difference between their and Red Bull’s approach regarding their drivers’ academy.

He said, “While it’s great that Red Bull has found Max, they’ve gone through a lot of talent to get there, and at a lot of expense.

“We’re paying attention to what is happening in the junior formulas. We don’t have anyone really on a junior programme at this point, because I think we wouldn’t really have a home for them,” he added.

McLaren lays out their philosophy

McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari, and Red Bull are a few teams that have brought several drivers into Formula 1 through their junior program. Currently, two of McLaren‘s academy drivers are on the grid, Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.

Brown pointed out that their philosophy differs from that of Red Bull or Ferrari.

He pointed out, “I think you do run into the problem that the others have, where they have too many drivers and they start trying to place them with other teams, or they don’t have a seat available.”

According to Brown, this is exactly the scenario that McLaren tries to avoid because it’s a loss for everyone involved.

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“McLaren, especially with our recent progress, will always be a team that most drivers have a high desire to drive for, especially as we continue to progress,” Brown added.

McLaren has signed Daniel Ricciardo for 2021. Interestingly, Ricciardo was a part of Red Bull’s young driver’s program. He moved on from Red Bull towards the end of 2018 to Renault.

McLaren will hope that Ricciardo, with the learnings he gathered from his years with Red Bull and Renault, will help build on their impressive season next year.