McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says it might be smug for his group 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. Crimson Bull slipped to 3rd within the group 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 person can single themselves out as the favourite heading into subsequent season.
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“I feel favorites can be smug,” Brown mentioned. “I see no cause why we are able to’t be one of many favorites. You’ve bought 4 groups which can be profitable races frequently, so I don’t see how one can put anyone as a favourite going into subsequent 12 months.
“However we’re positively [one of them], in contrast to this 12 months… To (McLaren technical director of aerodynamics) Pete Prodromou’s credit score, he got here into this 12 months considering we may win the world championship. I wasn’t there. I’m there now, that subsequent 12 months, we’re going to attempt 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 possibly a shock, however at the very least three different groups that can have that very same mindset, and I feel have nearly as good an opportunity as anybody.”
Nonetheless, Brown believes each drivers have proven they’ve the potential to problem for a championship in 2025, after each turned race-winners for the primary time – Lando Norris profitable 4 races and Oscar Piastri two.
“Each race weekend, you watch Formulation 1’s greatest driver pairing, Lando and Oscar, get behind the wheel of the MCL38 and put in a shift for this group. Most of the time this 12 months, 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 finished 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 out to be the primary McLaren driver to complete as excessive as fourth for us since Lewis (Hamilton) in 2012. On and off observe, each made big strides this 12 months, exhibiting they’ve bought what it takes to problem for the championship.”
