Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren F1, said several months ago that Max Verstappen only knows how to win with the best car. However, he revised his opinion after this 2024 season, and he is convinced that the Dutchman would have been champion at the wheel of an MCL38.
“That’s what Max showed: A great driver, a great car” Brown told Business of Sport. “I think when you see a great car, but not such a good driver, Sergio [Pérez]who is a very good racing driver, who has won Grands Prix, but who is clearly not at Max's level, you can see the difference.
“If Max was in a car that's not capable of winning, he'd get a little more benefit out of it because of his talent. But he's not going to take a car that's 15th and win with it. He might be able to to take a car that is third fastest and win, but you have to have the car, and you also have to have the driver.
The American is satisfied with McLaren's philosophy, which consists of letting Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri fight, rather than banking on a single driver who would carry the team, but on whom McLaren would be dependent.
“Of course it's not without its difficulties. But I prefer to have the challenges of two drivers fighting for a victory rather than the challenges of one driver fighting for victory and the other fighting to get into Q3. There are a lot of downsides to that.”
“We have two great drivers who have a great relationship: transparent and fair. So I think we can handle their desire to beat each other because they are both team players. He There will be moments, like this year, of great stress, but that’s sport.”
Brown praised the McLaren driver duo: “There are a lot of fast drivers in Formula 1, but ours are great with our sponsors, they are great with our fans. So, as I have said many times, I think we have the best group of drivers of Formula 1.”
Despite the fact that pilots are often reluctant to apply the instructions, Brown recalls that they are specified even before the weekend: “We don't take them by surprise. We make a plan every day. On Thursday we are at the track and we talk about what we are going to do on Friday and Saturday.”
“It's good communication, good transparency. We keep score when they help each other, so we try to balance things out. But I think you just have to be upfront and let them know what our goals and how their goals fit into ours.”
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