2015 was the darkest year in the history of McLaren and the collaboration between McLaren-Honda was so forgettable that Fernando Alonso’s frustrated radio rants will always remain a part of the history books. In the past years, we witnessed an upward trajectory as the team emerged from that slump. However, what no one saw coming was 2023’s extremely underwhelming start. But perhaps the CEO, Zak Brown, had an inkling.

Formula 1 teams begin developing next year’s challenge a year in advance with whatever information they collect from their current challenger. However, McLaren, which is one of the most iconic teams in the sport, just rebranded last year’s challenger and launched it as MCL60. Their actual challenger is supposed to arrive at the next GP of Azerbaijan. However, knowing that the work had been massively late, Brown had already taken a decision of a massive overhaul.

As quoted by Motorsports, Brown said, “I was not happy with the pace of development of the car in the second half of the season last year, if you compare that of other teams – where they were at mid-season and where they finished – with ours. So conversations started to take place, and we changed team principals towards the end of the year, which gave me the opportunity to be more aggressive in my work with Andrea, tasking him to analyze the team. And that’s exactly what he did.”

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However, even after admitting to the culpability, the Woking CEO is certain that the team is making positive progress post the overhaul.

Zak Brown is confident about the direction McLaren is heading in

Justifying that Andrea Stella was already a part of the team and knew the DNA of the Woking outfit’s functioning, he stated that Stella was already there as the sporting director and wasn’t beginning from scratch. After finding the role model, they began implementing their plans which, according to the CEO, are headed in the right direction.

Brown said, “At the end of the day, I’m the CEO. It’s my responsibility. These big decisions, we never take them alone, we always consult the management team. Whether it’s on the technical side or within the team, there’s nothing Andrea and I don’t discuss or disagree on. But it’s a competitive sport. When you’re not playing at the level you we think it’s necessary, we have to make decisions to change course. And that’s what we did. I’m confident in the direction we’re going now.”

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Do you think McLaren can come back to their element after their Baku upgrades? Can they claim the mid-field title which remained shy from them in 2022?