‘It was worse than I thought’

Zak Brown has described the situation he walked into McLaren at as “worse than I thought it was going to be” following the team’s revival under his watch.

The American joined in November 2016 at a time when one of the most storied teams in the sport was at its lowest. The team, with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button driving for them, finished sixth in the Constructors’ Championship and suffered nine retirements across the season.

The year later, the downward spiral continued as they slumped to ninth in the 2017 Championship.

Brown, among others, has been credited for overturning both the team’s fortunes as well as the work ethic at the McLaren Technology Centre but the 50-year-old has admitted that when he first walked in there, it was worse than he had expected.

“It was worse than I thought it was going to be as far as the environment, what was going on,” he told FOX Sports. “I joined in the worst year in the history of McLaren.

“We were in our second year of the Honda relationship, which we struggled with, but logic would say the third is going to be better than the second. It actually ended up kind of being the other way around.

“I don’t think that was by any means all on Honda, it was the entire environment. So I thought I was coming in to something that was already on the rebound and what I figured out was actually it was still going down.

“So that was a surprise but I knew given how many races this team’s won, how many Championships this team’s won, that there was a lot of talent inside here, but they just maybe needed some fresh direction and leadership to unlock the talent that was here, is here, and it’s been a great journey.”

Not that Monza was going to be forgotten in a hurry… 🇮🇹🏆 #McLaren #F1 pic.twitter.com/wNgeNs4ecx

— Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) October 23, 2021

Under Brown, the team have finished as high as third in the Constructors’ and Lando Norris has emerged as one of the sport’s brightest talents. The team has also been described as one of the most positive in the paddock and this was demonstrated in the immediate aftermath of Daniel Ricciardo’s 2021 win at Monza.

“On kind of the cultural side, we’re having fun,” Brown said. “I think if you’re having fun racing, and how can you not have fun going racing? Even though not winning is not fun. But if you have fun, people are trusting and they work harder.

“This is a hard job. It’s a fun job, but it’s a hard job….