McLaren finished fourth in the constructor's championship in 2021, but registered their first race win in 9 years when Daniel Ricciardo won the Italian GP.
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McLaren F1 team CEO Zak Brown doesn’t believe they will go into the 2022 Formula 1 season as title contenders.
The team finished fourth in the constructor’s championship in 2021, but registered their first race win in 9 years when Daniel Ricciardo won the Italian GP.
However, Brown believes they still have a degree of technical catching up to do with the others teams. As such, the goal for now remains to close the gap to the front of the field.
“I think it’s great we won our first race this year (2021). We need to be careful not to raise expectations to an unrealistic level,” he told Gulf Business.
“I don’t want to say our goal in 2022 is to win two (races) – our goal is to continue to get closer to the front of the field.
“Of course, we’re going to give it everything we’ve got. But we still have a couple of years of technical catch-up that we just can’t accelerate any further or faster than we are.
“We still have technical infrastructure that we’re catching up on, most notably our windtunnel. I’m not going into next year (2022) thinking we’re going to be a championship contender.”
In this interview, Brown also touched upon the F1 budget cap and how a curb on spending is actually helping teams stay financially sustainable.
Traditionally speaking, F1 teams have always been seen as money pits by many. The budget of top teams like Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari was at one point in excess of $400m.
But under the current cost cap, teams have a budget of $145m. And, according to Brown, this has led to a situation where all teams are financially healthy.
“I think the health of the teams has never been stronger. In Formula 1, there have always been two or three teams in trouble at any one time.
“Now, you have 10 very well-funded teams by very credible individuals or investment groups.
“You know, Sauber was saved by Finn Rausing a few years ago (when) it was headed in the direction of administration. And here it is a couple of years later turning around $400m for the racing team.
“I’m now getting calls on a routine basis from very significant sports investors who are really keen on buying Formula 1 teams, and there’s no team to buy.
“So it’s become a seller’s market, and no one wants to sell.”
