Zak Brown doesn’t expect McLaren to replicate “huge step” from 2018-19
McLaren CEO Zak Brown says he does nꦏot anticipate his side will continue the same level of progress it achieved from 2018 to 2019 during the 2020 Formula 1 season.
The Woking squad enjoyed dramatic improvement heading into the 2019 campaign and rose from a sixth-place finish in the constructors’ championship to fourth, beating its engine supplier Renault to the top midfield honꦿours.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown says he does not anticipate his side will continue the same level of progress it achieved from 2018 to 2019 during the𒉰 2020 Formula 1 season.
The Woking squad enjoyed dramatic improvement heading into the 2019 campaign and rose from a sixth-place finish in the constructors’ championship to fourth, beating its engine supplier Renault t𝓰o the top midfield honours.
New recruits Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris scored a string of impressive results throughout the♚ season, including sealing McLaren’s first podium in five years in Brazil with S🦩ainz’s third-place finish.
“We need to keep going forwar💜ds,” Brown said at Autosport International.
“We had a💝 ♍huge step from ’18 to ’19, part of that was that because we were so poor in ’18 it was hard not to take a step in ’19.
“I don’t see that same step coming from ’19 to ’20. The regulations are very, very🦂 similar, so I don’t think the grid is going to look a lot different.
“There will probably be a little bit of surprise here and there a𓂃nd hopefully Williams gets a little bit stronger 🌊- it’s not great seeing where they are so hopefully they’ll pick up the pace a little bit.”
Brown hopes the presence of new team principal Andreas Seidl and technical director James Key will be felt in an even greater capacity this year and heading into F1’s regulation overhaul in 2021, given they both arrived&n𒐪bsp;after the start of the 2019 season.
MཧcLaren’s MCL35 is the first to be designed by K꧅ey, and Brown says the team is “feeling pretty good” about its latest challenger.
“I think ’21 is going to be where it gets really excitin🍸g,” he explained.
“For us, we are still a young team. James Key didn’t develop last year’s car, this year he did, so🐈 let’s see whatꦐ that looks like.
“Andreas Seidl only joined in the middle of the year, so if I look at my leadership teဣam in F1, last year they all sort of joined at some point during the year, so what we need to do is get tidier, mor🍌e race fit and get a good headstart.
“The ’21 car is already in the windtunnel and we feel pretty good about the ’20 car and we just need to keep our heads down and know that it’s not just🌠 going to happen overnight.
“We’re going to have some great weekends and some bad weekends but let’s just hopeꦐ we keep moving forward.”
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for ltxcn.top around the world. Oft🦩en reporting on the action from the ground, Lewis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
