Zak Brown: Lando Norris Stronger for McLaren's 2024 Challenges
LAS VEGAS -- Zak Brown believes that Lando Norris and McLaren have not only grown but have become stronger through the challenges and mistakes they encountered during their otherwise impressive 2024 campaign.
After a long drought of 12 seasons with just a single race victory, McLaren has made a phenomenal comeback this year, securing five victories and leading Ferrari by 36 points in the constructors' championship with three races remaining.
Norris has been pivotal with three wins under his belt, although his challenge for the drivers' championship suffered a significant setback following Max Verstappen's triumph in Brazil two weeks ago.
Ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Norris admitted he wasn't ready to dethrone Verstappen this year. However, Brown is optimistic about the young driver's prospects for 2025.
Speaking to reporters, Brown elaborated on the season's valuable lessons: "You learn along the way, right? A Formula 1 team is about actually kind of constantly making little mistakes, and that's when you learn... what's the setup change, or you miss an apex, or you should have pitted a lap later, whatever it is, I think that makes you smarter for the next time around."
Brown acknowledged Norris's remarkable journey: "Lando has gone from never winning a race to competing for the championship in the same year, which is pretty rare. [Mika] Hakkinen did it, you know, one [win] in '97 and then won the championship in '98... I think he's had a lot to digest. I think, you know, everything that we see is every season is he's getting better."
Max Verstappen's experience is a notable advantage, according to Brown: "Max has the advantage of a handful of world championships, and what, 50 plus wins, wherever he's at, and he's not done. So I think Lando is going to be someone you got to watch for next year. And don't underestimate [Oscar] Piastri either."
On Norris's achievements, Brown added: "If you're stepping on Red Bull, you know you're doing a good job. So he's shown he's very capable. We're very capable of taking it to him. When Lando has won a few of his races, he's just absolutely walked away, right? Singapore it was amazing. Holland was amazing. So let's see [next year]."
McLaren's last championship win was in 2008, eight years before Brown took over as CEO. The American emphasized the shared experiences between him and Norris in facing the realities and challenges at the forefront of the F1 grid.
"I'm one of the less experienced McLaren team members, if you like," Brown said. "Out of all our all the great men and women that we have here, there's a lot of world championships, a lot of race wins, so it probably feels a little bit more foreign to me than some of them. But, you know, we're head down. We've got great leadership from Andrea Stella. A lot of people said, 'what are you going to do now that you're leading?' It's like, 'no, I don't want anything different'. I want to do what got us to where we are. So we'll just head down, very focused."
He acknowledged the volatile nature of the sport: "We see how quickly the sport can change. Red Bull went from 'they're going to win every race', to up until Brazil, hadn't won in half a dozen races, which seems like forever in Red Bull terms. Aston started really strong last year, faded pretty quickly. So I think we're feet on the ground, head down, recognizing how competitive the sport is and how quickly things can change."
Brown concluded with a mix of anticipation and confidence: "It's a nervous excitement, at least for myself. But when you've got people like Andrea Stella, very calm, very focused, and a lot of experience in the team, I kind of look to them to see how I should react."
Up Next
