McLaren CEO spills secrets on dramatic F1 turnaround

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has shared an insight into what aided his squad's dramatic turnaround in form, which took it from a backmarker to a title-winning outfit.

Brown joined McLaren in 2016 before being appointed to the role of CEO in 2018 as it navigated a highly challenging period with lacklustre results.

McLaren slowly rose up the pecking order and returned to winning ways in 2024, capping off the year with a constructors' championship before adding a drivers' title to its achievements the following year.

Brown asserted that all of the success was made possible by having the right people in place.

“It's all about people,” Brown told media including RacingNews365. “When I started, the team had definitely gone through tough times. 

“We were ninth in the championship, we didn't have many partners. A couple of partners we had weren't very happy. 

“Our fans were disgruntled, [there were] politics inside the racing team. Other than that, everything was great! 

“What was great was our brand, it wasn't in a great place, but you can't take away the history and the heritage. 

“We knew we had something there to work with, and a lot of championships and race wins in our existing racing team, but they just weren't working well together. 

“So I actually felt 'this is very fixable'. Your brand is critically important, that's what brings in partners and attracts people to work for the team.

“We've got great people in the team, that just needed some leadership, guidance, teamwork, [and] transparency.”

Reporting directly to Brown is team principal Andrea Stella, who has also been heavily credited with McLaren's recent success across the last three years.

But among the more noticeable changes that Brown oversaw early in his McLaren career was a return to the papaya livery as part of a brand relaunch, acting on feedback from fans.

“The first thing we did is we went back to our papaya, which is our history,” he said. “We did that because that's the fans told us they wanted. 

“And so we listen to our fans. Someone said to me at the time 'you're only doing that because the fans want it'. [I said] 'that's exactly why we're doing it'.”