Brown concedes McLaren 'faded' despite 'proud' achievements

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has conceded that the Woking-based team "faded" towards the end of the recently completed Formula E season, but that he is "proud" of its achievements.

Season 10 was a mixed campaign for McLaren, as Sam Bird claimed a sensational victory for the British team in São Paulo. 

His penultimate corner overtake on Mitch Evans secured McLaren's first win in FE, and his first since New York in July 2021. 

It was an emotional moment and a real high for the entire team, who featured on the rostrum again later in the season in Shanghai after Jake Hughes finished second. 

Hughes also claimed two pole positions in S10, although has left McLaren to join Maserati. His replacement is yet to be confirmed. 

Overall, McLaren's season was one of inconsistency and resulted in seventh in the teams' championship; however, Brown is pleased by the growth he has seen, led by team principal Ian James.

"On the Electric Racing front, in Formula E, while seventh place in the Constructors’ World Championship is clearly not where we want to be, we won in São Paulo and took a podium in China, and those are pretty cool achievements, which we should be proud of," said Brown. 

"I’ve seen a lot of growth off-track, led by NEOM McLaren Electric Racing Managing Director and Team Principal Ian James, and this will put us in good stead moving forward. 

"Ian has been putting the building blocks in place for our long-term future and with us now entering the new GEN3 Evo era, I believe we’ll see our progress off-track reflected on the track."

Bird's overtake on former Jaguar team-mate Evans for victory in São Paulo was undoubtedly one of the moments of the season. 

The customer Nissan outfit demonstrated exceptional pace several times, although were often caught out unfortunately by the mistakes of others. 

It is clear podiums are possible for McLaren when it can perform consistently, something which could happen when Gen3 EVO is introduced next season. 

For a brand like McLaren, it needs to move up the standings next season and contest for the top five places as a minimum. 

A lot of that will depend on who partner's Bird, with F2's Taylor Barnard who replaced the Briton in Monaco and Berlin being a strong option. 

Nevertheless, Brown is impressed by the job done by Bird and also Hughes in S10, and is confident lessons will be learnt ahead of Gen3 EVO.

"I think Sam Bird has come in and done an awesome job - his dramatic late pass to win in Brazil was fantastic," added Brown. 

"Jake Hughes once again proved how strong a driver he is as well, particularly in Qualifying, and although he’s now left our team, he’s served us well and played a major role in establishing us in this series. 

"Ultimately, we started strongly this year and faded a bit, but we will learn from that and work to get that course corrected."