2021 a “very successful year” despite McLaren’s relegation to fourth place

McLaren continued its resurgence in 2020 by finishing third in the championship and taking two podiums with Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr. but failed to maintain that position in 2021 as Ferrari struck back after several lean years of their own.

But despite losing a championship position, Brown believes 2021 was still a landmark year for the Woking team, and not just because of Daniel Ricciardo’s shock win at Monza, McLaren’s first Grand Prix win in nine long years.

“This year we wanted to close the gap at the top and we did it,” Brown said at a year-end roundtable.

“We scored more points per race than last year, we had more podiums than last year, we got our great one-two at Monza, we had our poles in Russia.

“Unfortunately we slipped down to fourth place. I think that shows how competitive this sport is.

“The pit stops are much, much better. Everything we set out to do at the start of the season to move forward, we’ve hit every single one of those KPIs we set out for, apart from the Constructors’ Championship.

“I think we have to look back on the year and see it as a very successful year and continue to build on that in our journey to hopefully be fighting for the World Cup again in a few years.”

Away from the circuit, too, the team found stability as the McLaren Group raised £550million in new investment over the summer after being hit by severe financial woes during the pandemic.

Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing

Photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images

The capital increase followed a sale and leaseback of the McLaren Technology Center in Woking and the sale of 15% of the racing team to US sports investment group MSP Sport Capital in late 2020.

This financial boost allows McLaren to work within Formula 1’s budget ceiling and invest in its aging infrastructure. A new wind tunnel is one of several planned upgrades currently under construction, although it will be long term before McLaren will be able to reap the rewards of its investment plan.

“I think we’re definitely on the right track in every way,” commented Brown.

“We have all the people on site, everyone is very committed and has long-term commitments, whether racing drivers or team bosses, engineers or car designers.

“I am very satisfied with our people, which is the most important thing.

“As everyone knows, we had financial challenges last year and they were all resolved.

“We are now using maximum resources to catch up on our technical infrastructure and we are running at the budget limit, the wind tunnel is currently being heavily built, we have new technical trucks, we have a new simulator coming.

“We’ve invested a lot so we’re very healthy financially, so we’ve got it all behind us.

“And then this year on the track, we just want to keep going every year until we have our infrastructure in place, which unfortunately won’t be until season 24 because our wind tunnel will be online in another 18 months and that’s when you start with the development of the 24 car.

“We’ll make the best of what we have until 24 when we can say we have everything we need.”