F1 News
Zak Brown turns up the heat for Baku with blunt warning to Red Bull
Zak Brown is confident McLaren will be able to fight for pole positions, and race wins in each of the remaining eight Grand Prix weekends on the Formula 1 calendar. The McLaren CEO looks to pressure Red Bull but is wary of the competition. He is also looking over his shoulder at Ferrari.
Lando Norris has a 62-point gap to Max Verstappen in the Drivers' World Championship with eight Grands Prix and three sprint races remaining. The alarm bells are ringing for Verstappen, who could see his streak of titles end. However, Red Bull Racing are under even more pressure in the Constructors' Championship with McLaren just eight points behind. Some will even have the British team as favourites to take the lead after the race in Baku.
Both Ferrari and Mercedes have demonstrated impressive pace in recent Grands Prix. But those two teams have also had off weekends. Mercedes went into the summer break with three wins in four Grands Prix and then struggled to compete in Zandvoort. Ferrari struggled prior to Monza, but Charles Leclerc took home the victory. But Brown sees McLaren being in the mix at a variety of circuits.
"I don’t see why we can’t be going for the win every race weekend. I think we’re going to have tough competition, but we’ve shown our car is good in all conditions, all different types of circuits. We were very strong in Singapore last year," Brown explained on Sky Sports F1 after the Italian Grand Prix.
Brown predicts a crazy Baku race
Sergio Perez is the most successful driver in F1 history at Baku, scoring 115 points. The next best driver is Lewis Hamilton, who has scored 85 points. Only one driver [Perez] has secured multiple wins at the venue. Norris, Piastri, Russell, Leclerc and Sainz have not finished first in Baku. The variety of winners tells the story: Baku can be a tough race to compete in and Brown knows that.
“Baku is always a bit of a crazy, crazy race. But, we’re going to show up every weekend, trying to go for pole, trying to go for a front row lockout, trying to win. I’m sure it won’t quite work like that for the next eight races, because the competition is tough," Brown warns before being wary of Ferrari.
"I think what we have is a three-way race for the Constructors’ Championship because Ferrari is 30 points behind, but look at them [in Monza], it was them and us. It's exciting to see what happens," Brown concluded.