McLaren need to be the 'best at everything' to beat Red Bull says Brown

F1 News

Brown hopeful for McLaren to takeover Red Bull
19 June at 12:30
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  • Sophia Crothall

Formula One has gone through periods of domination. Most recently, it has been Red Bull Racing who have come out on top, and before that it was Mercedes. Now, Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren, understands what it will take for the British team to come out on top. 

"If you look at Red Bull the last few years and Mercedes before that, typically the teams that win the championship are the best at everything, not most things," Brown told theScore. "If you look at Red Bull the last few years, they’ve had the fastest car. They’ve had the least amount of tyre deg. They’ve had the best pit stops. They’ve had the complete package to win on a regular basis." Red Bull have won the Constructors for the past two seasons, and remain top of the table so far in 2024, with Ferrari 49 points behind. McLaren sit in third.

'We're knocking on the door' 

This season, McLaren have performed well. They have featured on the podium consistently since China and achieved their first race win since 2021, with Lando Norris taking home his maiden win in Miami in May. The team also believes having two consistently top performing drivers is the key to their success, something which Red Bull are lacking. In the last two races, Sergio Perez has failed to finish for the top team. Norris also now sits ahead of Perez in the Drivers standings. 

McLaren can now use Red Bull's weakness to their advantage: "I think we have two great drivers. We clearly have a very fast race car. We have very good pit stops, but have room to improve. Our reliability is much stronger. We’re knocking on the door. It’s just about being a little bit incrementally better everywhere," Brown concluded.