McLaren chief Zak Brown fears F1 rivals Mercedes ready to lay down major 2024 challenge

Zak Brown, Bahrain GP, McLaren, 2024 — Photo: © IMAGO

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McLaren chief fears F1 rivals ready to lay down major 2024 challenge

McLaren's rival's recent upgrades has seen them bring the fight back to the front of the grid

Tyler Rowlinson

Friday 21 June 2024 16:20

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McLaren Formula 1 CEO Zak Brown has claimed that one of their rivals is ‘strong once again’ after their recent upgrades.

The Woking-based team have seen an incredible transformation in recent months, going from one of the slowest cars on the grid in the first half of last season, to regularly competing for podiums.

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With an exciting driver lineup of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, the team amassed six podiums from the opening nine races of 2024, including Norris’ first win of his career in Miami.

McLaren have seen an incredible rise in recent months

Mercedes' upgrades in Canada gave them their best weekend of 2024

Brown: Mercedes will not be a one-off

So far this season, the main bulk of the points scored have been from the top five teams (Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes and Aston Martin) - although the latter seem to have fallen behind their competitors.

Mercedes had endured a torrid start to the year as George Russell and Lewis Hamilton again struggled with their difficult machinery.

However, the team brought upgrades to their front wing for the Canadian Grand Prix and they benefitted significantly with their best weekend of the season so far, with Russell claiming his second career pole and going on to finish the race in third, with Hamilton fourth.

And speaking after FP1 in Barcelona, Brown believes that the Silver Arrows’ display in Montreal will not be a ‘one-off’ after a strong outing on Friday afternoon.

“A good start to the weekend,” he said. “Everyone’s bringing their upgrades per usual. Mercedes seems to be strong once again, so I don’t think Montreal is going to be a one-off.

"I think you have four teams that are on top of each other and as always it will be about execution.

"Everyone knows this track. We test here a lot, so this weekend will show us how things might look like for the rest of the year.”