SINGAPORE — McLaren CEO Zak Brown wants his team to avoid falling victim to a “poison” internal culture like the one he believes has plagued rivals Red Bull this season.
McLaren took the lead in the constructors’ championship at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix for the first time since 2014 — it has not won that championship since 1999.
As is often the case with leading teams, McLaren’s car design has faced increasing scrutiny from rivals and it has been asked to modify a controversial rear-wing design ahead of Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix.
Red Bull, without a race win since June’s Spanish Grand Prix despite a dominant start to the year, and Ferrari have led the complaints.
Off-track Red Bull has faced turmoil — the year started with team boss Christian Horner’s sexual misconduct investigation. Sources have told ESPN there is an ongoing internal power struggle between Horner and racing advisor Helmut Marko, while Horner is known to have fallen out with Max Verstappen’s father Jos, which has led to reports the world champion is looking to force a move to either Mercedes or Aston Martin for 2026.
Now McLaren has replaced Red Bull at the front of the pack, Brown quoted McLaren team boss Andrea Stella in highlighting the importance of not falling into a similar situation.
“Andrea’s got a great phrase: ‘Don’t eat the poison biscuit,'” Brown told Autosport. “Everyone now is like ‘flexi-wing this and that’ and I have to insulate the team to the best of my ability from the incoming [scrutiny].
“I know people are going to stir it and I have to protect the team, because if you look at one team in particular, where there’s lots of ‘poison’ and lots of incoming, look what’s happening.
“That is an unbelievably great team that, at the moment, is going in the wrong direction because of culture. Their wind tunnel is not any different than what it was a year ago. I think that is a moral culture. People are leaving, [there is] lots of noise, look at the top, one team principal makes a statement, then Helmut [Marko] makes [a different one].
“Drivers aren’t happy — driver’s dads … but it is same factory and with a huge budget. So like, what’s changed? The culture of the people.”
The departures Brown referred to are two key parts of Red Bull’s recent success in the sport — design legend Adrian Newey, who will join Aston Martin next year, and sporting director Jonathan Wheatley, who will become Sauber team boss at the same time. Red Bull has already announced a restructure to replace Wheatley.
McLaren’s resurgence has been one of the biggest stories of the F1 season.
The team was under huge pressure at the start of 2023, when a torrid start to preseason led to the departure of technical director James Key, but vaulted back to the front end of the grid with a big upgrade at that year’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Lando Norris’ maiden victory at the Miami Grand Prix in May this year coincided with an upgrade on the McLaren which made it the most well-rounded car on the grid. Norris and Oscar Piastri have combined for three more race wins since.
“I’m still scarred, and hopefully permanently scarred, from the start of 2023,” Brown said. “There’s two types of people in this world, those that are motivated by the thrill of victory and those that are motivated by the fear of defeat. I’m motivated by the fear of defeat, which gets me out of bed every day.
“It’s probably the unhealthier, yes, more stressful and probably explains why I had ulcers a year and a half ago! “But I’m never relaxed, I’m never comfortable, and I think being uncomfortable is a good thing. Managing it is important but I don’t feel like I’m ever going to take my foot off the throttle, because if you pan out far enough you can see trouble ahead.”
