McLaren anything but afraid of Vettel at Aston Martin: 'Not a strong pair'

Although 2021 is regarded in many respects as a kind of transitional year, this is by no means the case for the teams. They will all appear at the start of next season with new drivers and at McLaren they think they have already scored a small victory in that respect.

The team knew before the final start of the 2020 F1 season that they were going to lose Carlos Sainz to Ferrari, but then hijacked Daniel Ricciardo away from Renault. Sebastian Vettel then found shelter at Racing Point / Aston Martin.

"Ocon was strong at the end, but Daniel [Ricciardo] carried the team [Renault]," says Zak Brown to Motorsport-Total.com to emphasise his good purchase. Racing Point, according to him, was in the same situation as Renault and did nothing to change that by sending Sergio Perez away for 2021.

"Sergio [Perez] was on a completely different level and carried the team. We took advantage of the fact that we had two strong drivers - not just one. I don't think they have as strong a pair of drivers as we do or Ferrari," said Brown, who is also expecting a much stronger Ferrari next year.