McLaren team boss Zak Brown was not able to hide his smile after a much improved display at the British Grand Prix weekend, where they landed their first podium finish of the 2023 season.
It was a challenging beginning of the season for the MCL60 where in the words of Zak Brown was left "nowhere" for the first two flyaway races, with just a few points to be grabbed at the six rounds thereafter.
However, after firing James Key as Technical Director and new team boss Andrea Stella implemented his own strategy, all eyes turn to a major upgrade package for the McLaren.
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The upgrade package was planned for Austria and initially rolled out with Lando Norris, where he impressed by qualifying fourth, taking third in the Sprint Shootout and ultimately finishing fourth in the Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring.
It was an eye opening for the team and many doubted how much this was down to track characteristics, but surely those doubts were soon answered at Silverstone. This time both McLarens received the upgrade package, this opened the way for both drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to qualify in second and third, and also finishing in second and fourth.
Zak Brown opened up and said "Given how we started the year in Bahrain and Saudi, where we were nowhere, to be on the podium, to lead the race and be there on pure pace, having two cars there…
“It’s unfortunate, I feel bad for Oscar, he deserved to be third, but what incredible work all the men and women at McLaren have done.”
Brown added that he feels championship leader Max Verstappen is “getting less further ahead” as the season develops and looks forward to more “fantastic racing” in the events to come.
“I think this shows just how healthy the sport is, how great the competition is, that we’re now coming into each weekend and there’s someone at the front you weren’t expecting, someone at the back you weren’t expecting,” he commented.
As for whether McLaren are now “second-best” to Red Bull, Brown said: “No, I think it’s a little early to be that bold. I think what we are now is we’re back in the game.
“I’m sure tracks will suit different cars in different ways, plus everyone’s continuing to bring upgrades, so you can see when you put a lot of great, hard work in and it works, the leap forward you can take. As far as we know, someone else might do that the next race, so we’ve got to keep pushing.”
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