Zak Brown pinpoints the ‘big moment’ he realised McLaren needed a change of leadership

McLaren have enjoyed a meteoric resurgence in Formula 1 over the last 18 months.

The Woking-based outfit have gone from arguably the slowest car on the grid at the start of 2023 to now having the fastest package in 2024, with talented drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri guiding them to regular podium finishes and race wins.

This season marks an incredible return to glory for McLaren who have suffered a severe decline in recent years. The team are one of F1’s most successful outfits with 12 drivers’ titles and eight constructors’ championships, but they endured a torrid time in the mid-2010s.

Partnering with Honda as their engine supplier in 2015 during the turbo hybrid era, McLaren had three disastrous seasons with the Japanese manufacturer, scoring just 27 points in that first season which marked their worst year in F1 history.

Changing over to Renault engines in 2018 – again spending three seasons with the manufacturer – the Woking-based outfit saw improvement but still found it challenging to score points consistently. McLaren took a bigger stride forward with Mercedes in 2021, winning their first race in nine years at the Italian Grand Prix through Daniel Ricciardo.

Zak Brown pinpoints one ‘big moment’ in 2022 that made him realise McLaren needed to change their team

The team would not win another Grand Prix until Norris’ maiden win in Miami this season as McLaren just could not find the performance to score podiums regularly.

The Woking-based team’s rise back to the top has been dramatic and has been overseen by CEO Zak Brown. Speaking on the Red Flags Podcast, the 53-year-old reflected on the team’s journey back to the front of the grid, remembering one moment back in 2022 that ‘concerned’ him about where McLaren was heading.

READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine

“So in 2019, we had Andrea Stella, Peter Prodromou, Gil de Ferran, we bought Pat Fry back.

“That car in 2020 was pretty good and then in 2021, all we did was switch from the Renault to the Mercedes [engine] and then in 2021, [we got] five, six podiums and we won in Monza.

“And the team that was in place in 2021 got all the credit for it when actually it was [the] 2019 [team] that was our 2021 success.

“Then 2022, our new team, new leadership put together the car. 2023 was terrifying and 2022, we had issues with our driver situation.

“I felt like underneath that, we weren’t developing at the pace we should, and [the] big moment for me was France in 2022. We put all these developments on and it didn’t work and the response from the leadership wasn’t what you would expect from, this was supposed to be a big moment.

“So, I was concerned then and then we made a change at the end of 2022.”

Can McLaren win their first constructors’ title since 1998 this season?

The sheer scale of McLaren’s improvement in performance is evidenced by the fact that Norris and Piastri have had a car that can challenge for silverware in 2024.

The former has been Max Verstappen’s closest rival for the drivers’ title but ultimately missed out as the Dutchman sealed the deal in Las Vegas. The Brit has made some costly errors this season, with Gian Carlo Minardi scolding Norris for his big mistake in Qatar that he claims he should not be making if he wants to win the world championship.

While the drivers’ title is out of the question, McLaren can still win the Constructors’ Championship this year. Heading into the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Woking-based squad lead Ferrari by 21 points.

McLaren have not won any title since 2008 when Lewis Hamilton won his maiden title, but the team have to go back to 1998 for the last time they won the constructors’ title.

With two extremely talented drivers on their books and with the best package on the grid, McLaren will be looking take full advantage and put a well-overdue trophy in their cabinet in Woking.