Brown fires Red Bull shot over ‘driver challenges’

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has fired a shot at Red Bull that he does not have "driver challenges" to deal with, unlike the Milton Keynes-based outfit. 

Red Bull's lead in the constructors' championship has been whittled down to just 42 points by McLaren, with Sergio Perez continuing to score minimal points. 

Max Verstappen is very much fighting Red Bull's corner on his own at the moment, with Perez having slipped from second to seventh in last weekend's Belgian Grand Prix. 

It was speculated following his latest disappointing result that Perez could be replaced during the summer break, only for Red Bull to confirm on Monday that he would continue until the end of the season at least. 

Brown recognises it is a difficult situation for McLaren's rivals but is delighted he does not have to deal with the same between Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

"Yeah, it's a tricky one," Brown told Sky Sports F1. "They've kind of found themselves in a situation where they've got two teams and a young driver programme. 

"They've kind of found themselves in this situation where they've got one driver leading the championship, and now the other I think seventh in the championship.

"Great racing drivers, won races. So we all know he's (Perez) very capable of winning at any point, but he seems to be in a bit of an issue at the moment. 

"I don't know all that's going on there, but it's for them to sort out. I'm happy, I don't have driver challenges."

More McLaren upgrades

McLaren has enjoyed an exceptional first half of the season and is touted by many as now having the strongest package on the grid. 

What McLaren has done very well is introduce upgrades which result in a performance improvement, whilst the likes of Ferrari have worsened since fitting updates to its car. 

For the vast majority of the 14 completed rounds, McLaren has featured towards the front of the grid and is on a run of 10 consecutive podiums. 

More upgrades are in the pipeline for the Woking-based outfit, who Brown is confident will remain in the fight for regular podiums and victories. 

"That's our plan," said Brown. "That being said, we know how quickly the sport moves, so we need to keep doing what we're doing. 

"We do have more upgrades coming throughout the year but so do our competitors, so I see no reason why we can't be at the front. 

"Every race the balance of the year, that's where we've been pretty much all year. So that's certainly our plan. But now we need to just continue executing."