McLaren CEO Zak Brown shrugs: 'We didn't do that right'

F1 News

bag brown balks at strategic miss at mclaren at silverstone
8 July at 16:52
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  • Corwin Kunst

Zak Brown thinks McLaren single-handedly killed off the chance of a win in the British Grand Prix. According to the Woking-based team's CEO, the current number three in the constructors' standings went strategically wrong twice during the spectacular race at Silverstone.

First of all, McLaren decided not to do a double stack with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri when it started to rain. The latter had to stay out for another lap, losing some 20 seconds and leaving him with no chance of a podium finish, let alone a win.

"It was tough. I think we ultimately got it wrong," Brown told Formula1.com. The American also regretted the decision to put Norris on softs rather than mediums at his final pitstop: "I think both our drivers could have won there. They did an excellent job."

Point to improve for McLaren

Strategically, then, McLaren did not have it all together at Silverstone. It something the British team will work on, Brown promises. "I think you’ve got to be great at everything to win in Formula 1 with the level of competition. Mercedes and Red Bull have been doing a lot of winning and championships, and we’ve got a car now that’s capable of racing for the championship."

"We need to make sure every aspect of what we do is, as Andrea [Stella] says, world championship material. We didn’t get it right this time, we’ve gotten it right plenty of other times – we’ll learn from it, we’ll get ready for Hungary," Brown said. In a week and a half, the Formula One circus will travel to the Hungaroring.