F1 News
McLaren: "It's going to get harder the nearer we get to the front"
- Nicolás Quarles van Ufford
After a very successful 2019 in F1, McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown knows very well that the path will get harder the closer his side gets to the very front of the grid, as they enter the 2020 season off the back of their best year in the turbo-hybrid era.
With their new driver line-up of Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz Jr. and their new team principal in Andreas Seidl, it was like the Woking-based team entered 2019 with a clean slate after several years of struggle and frustration.
Surprisingly, McLaren ran away with fourth place in the constructors' championship, comfortably beating Renault to it as Sainz even bagged the team a podium in Brazil. The Spaniard also became the first driver since Valtteri Bottas in 2014 to finish in the top six of the standings while not driving for either Red Bull, Ferrari or Mercedes.
Brown knows while there is still "a big gap we need to close" with the top three teams, next year's regulation changes could well prepare McLaren forward.
"Come 2021, it’s going to be the biggest reset in the recent history of Formula 1, and I think that’s going to be exciting," the American looked ahead to next year.
"Not only for us, I think it’s going to be exciting for everyone who follows the sport. Again, with the budget cap coming in, that will help, but that’s not really going to settle in until 2022 and 2023.
"So, while we’re on forward progress up the field, it’s going to get harder the nearer we get to the front but all the men and women at McLaren are up for it."
McLaren certainly have the infrastructure and the financial firepower to fight their way to the top, but the 2021 changes could completely reshuffle the pack, as regulation changes tend to do. While they could shoot up the grid next year, it could also bring them down.