Brown exposes Red Bull weakness in F1 title fight

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has stated the performance differential between Red Bull's drivers is an opportunity for McLaren in the Formula 1 title battle.

Championship leader Max Verstappen has won six out of the nine races staged so far this season and currently holds a 69-point lead over Lando Norris.

Verstappen's team-mate Sergio Perez has struggled for form of late, scoring just eight points across the last four races.

In comparison, Verstappen has bagged 83 in the same period, while Norris has scored 67.

Speaking to Sky F1, Brown highlighted the tight nature of the current pecking order poses an even greater challenge as it looks to reel in Red Bull.

“We took a small chunk out a Ferrari, Mercedes got a few points on us,” Brown said. 

“Ferrari is definitely within reach but so is Mercedes and Red Bull, if Perez picks up the pace, then they’ll be very hard to compete [against].

“So I think we got it to kind of take advantage of the fact that at the moment, Max is at the front and Sergio is running in the points. That might give us an ability to claw into that lead a bit.

“The fact that we all thought this was over at the first race, I think we all got that wrong.”

McLaren maintaining race-by-race focus

However Brown underlined his squad is not getting ahead of itself as it focuses on one race at a time.

“[I'm] excited for a lot of races, more races the better as far as I'm concerned,” he said ahead of the second round during the ongoing triple-header.

“We just got to keep doing what we're doing. I think Andrea [Stella, team principal] sets great direction for the team. 

“We remain very focused. We're [going] one race at a time. Of course, we think beyond that when it comes to things like development.

“But now we'll turn our attention to Austria, we won't worry about Silverstone other than what people are doing back at the factory who continue to develop the car.”