Zak Brown described the situation in which he arrived at McLaren as “worse than I thought” after the team took over under his leadership.
The American joined McLaren in November 2016 at a time when one of the sport’s most legendary teams was at an all-time low. The team, with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button at the wheel, finished sixth in the constructors’ championship and suffered nine retirements during the season, the second with Honda F1.
The following year the downward spiral continued with ninth place in the 2017 championship.
Brown has been credited with turning the mood and work ethic at the McLaren Technology Center, the Woking factory, upside down.
« It was worse than I thought in terms of the environment, the vibe, what was going on. I joined this company in what was going to be 2017 the worst year in McLaren’s history. . »
« We were in our second year of relationship with Honda, which we struggled with, but logic dictated that the third was better than the second. In fact, it ended up going the other way. »
« It wasn’t ‘it’s all Honda’s fault’ in any way, it was the whole environment. While I thought I was entering a structure that was already bouncing back, I quickly realized that in fact it was continuing to decline. »
« So it was a surprise, but I knew that given the number of races this team had won, the number of championships won, that there was a lot of talent here, but maybe they just needed new direction and new leadership to unleash the talent that was here, who is here, and it’s been a great epic. »
Since then the team has recovered well and finished third in the constructors and Lando Norris has gone on to become one of the sport’s brightest drivers. McLaren was also described as one of the most positive teams in the paddock: Ron Dennis could never have had this title!
“Probably! It’s true that on the team culture side, we are having fun now, » Brown replies. « If you have fun racing, and how could it be otherwise even if not winning is not fun, people trust you and work harder. »
« F1 is hard work, in any position. It’s fun, but hard work. Communication was bad, trust was low. So it was all kinds of cultural issues. what a thing to settle. »
« Then we had technical issues. Our wind tunnel is outdated, we have a new wind tunnel coming, our simulator was old, our production plant was a bit outdated. So I found that culturally we were not in a great place, the team didn’t function as a team, as a single unit. And then technically, we were behind on some of our investments. »
« So those are the two things I’ve decided to change and so far so good but we’re still not where we want to be. »
Changing a Formula 1 team is no easy feat and Brown admits it was certainly harder than he thought, but it was worth it.
« I enjoyed the journey and that makes it more enjoyable because when you get your first win at Monza all the blood, sweat and tears that happened in that moment find meaning. »
“At Spa Lando was probably going to be on pole and I would have hated it being our first win, where you win a race you never actually raced.
« So for sort of at Monza, an iconic track, finishing one and two, taking the lead at the start, never looking back, the best pit stops of the race, the fastest laps of the race. It’s all reunited, which has been extremely gratifying. »
Did you miss our previous article...
https://formulaone.news/mclaren/how-palou-fits-into-mclarens-f1-plans-for-indycar-stars
