McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says it might be smug for his workforce to view itself as favourite for both championship in 2025, given how aggressive this years was.
Max Verstappen received a fourth consecutive drivers’ championship however McLaren received the constructors’ title because it held off Ferrari by 14 factors in Abu Dhabi. Purple Bull slipped to 3rd within the workforce standings forward of Mercedes in fourth, with the highest 4 groups all scoring a number of race victories, and Brown says that stage of opposition means no one can single themselves out as the favourite heading into subsequent season.
“I believe favorites can be smug,” Brown mentioned. “I see no purpose why we will’t be one of many favorites. You’ve received 4 groups which are successful races regularly, so I don’t see how one can put anyone as a favourite going into subsequent yr.
“However we’re undoubtedly [one of them], not like this yr… To (McLaren technical director of aerodynamics) Pete Prodromou’s credit score, he got here into this yr considering we may win the world championship. I wasn’t there. I’m there now, that subsequent yr, we’re going to try to win the constructors’ and drivers’ world championship.
“That’s the mindset of everybody else, however I do know there’s at the very least three different groups, and perhaps a shock, however at the very least three different groups that may have that very same mindset, and I believe have pretty much as good an opportunity as anybody.”
Nevertheless, Brown believes each drivers have proven they’ve the potential to problem for a championship in 2025, after each grew to become race-winners for the primary time – Lando Norris successful 4 races and Oscar Piastri two.
“Each race weekend, you watch System 1’s finest driver pairing, Lando and Oscar, get behind the wheel of the MCL38 and put in a shift for this workforce. As a rule this yr, that’s been on the entrance of the sector, with six grand prix wins, 21 podiums, and eight pole positions, together with a run of 14 consecutive podiums, the second-longest streak in our historical past.
“Our drivers have executed us proud. Lando pushed Max onerous within the drivers’ championship and is the primary driver to complete second for us since Jenson (Button) in 2011. And in solely his second season, Oscar has turn into the primary McLaren driver to complete as excessive as fourth for us since Lewis (Hamilton) in 2012. On and off monitor, each made enormous strides this yr, displaying they’ve received what it takes to problem for the championship.”
