McLaren’s driver line-up of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are both capable of delivering a world championship as the team gets closer to the standards it needs, according to Zak Brown.
Daniel Ricciardo was released one year before the end of his contract after two tough years at McLaren, with rookie Piastri signed as his replacement after Alpine failed to secure his future. While Brown says he retains a good relationship with Ricciardo – who has since returned to a race seat with the team most recently known as AlphaTauri – he sees the drivers as the most recent area that has been proven to be clicking as McLaren moves closer to the front.
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“I’m very happy Daniel is back in Formula 1,” Brown said. “Daniel has always been great to work with, he’s always been a great friend. It was never a divorce that made anybody happy. So I’m very happy he’s on the grid. We still exchange notes on a somewhat regular basis, so I’m very happy that we’ve ended up maintaining a good relationship.
“And then of course very happy that Oscar has performed in the way he has, and we’ve got visibility to what our driver line-up looks like for the foreseeable future with a very experienced 24-year-old and an awesome rookie at 22.
“That’s a pretty awesome driver line-up as we look at what we need to get back to winning world championships, it starts with two drivers that are capable of winning the world championship. I think we’ve got that.”
Brown says the way other aspects are working so well highlight the potential within McLaren, with team principal Andrea Stella monitoring how close it is to being ready to fight of titles.
“I think we have the team. I think we now have the resources and the technology, and now we just need to continue to push forward and the culture.
“The pit stops are great. I think that illustrates how well the team is working together. So we’ve just got to kind of get that pit stop culture in every single part of the racing team. I think we’re there.
“Andrea has this kind of world championship material terminology that he uses, and this pie chart. It started at half green, quarter amber, quarter red. And the green is 75%, and the amber and the red is reduced, and I think we just need a little bit more time to get it to be all green.”