McLaren Reborn?

McLaren are one of the most iconic and successful Formula 1 teams in the history of the sport, second only to Ferrari in age and success. Their recent poor performance has been the cause of much heartache for many Formula 1 fans as they have watched this once great team struggle through season after season at the back of the grid with their last win in 2012. F1 giants, such as Martin Whitmarsh and Ron Dennis, have been laid low as well as the former two times world champion Fernando Alonso. But maybe, and it is a big maybe, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for McLaren who have already achieved a couple of encouraging results this season which coupled with an exciting new driver line-up gives F1 fans everywhere a reason to be optimistic for the future of this formerly great team.

The architect of this transformation would appear to be Zak Brown, CEO, who ousted long-standing McLaren man Ron Dennis at the top. Brown has continued Ron Dennis’ work diversifying McLaren and has created a business where the synergies between the road car business, Mclaren Technology Group, and the Formula 1 team ensure that McLaren maintain the financial muscle to stay at the top of the sport. This makes them less dependent on external investors, although Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Mansour Ojjeh have to be viewed as strong assets to the team. With a firm corporate base to rely on Zak Brown has been able to introduce a five-year plan to get the team back to the top of the sport. This plan must be the result of significant soul searching at McLaren who had to realise just how bad things had got before they could move on. For a protracted period of time this introspection was prevented by McLaren’s insistence that it was the engine and not the chassis letting the team down.

The five-year plan has seen McLaren secure increased investment into the team as well as growing the size of the staff including some significant hires including ex-Porsche World Endurance Championship chief Andreas Seidl as Managing Director. There has also been a change in car design philosophy with Lando Norris suggesting after the 2019 Bahrain GP that the team had taken a paired back approach to this year’s car design looking to go back to first principles so that they can better understand how the car is working again. Whilst this might seem obvious to many this bold step could have been viewed as moving backwards. If this is also a simplified baseline it will bode well for McLaren’s ability to develop the car and find more performance during the season.

Whilst the team will undoubtedly feel the loss of Fernando Alonso as a full-time driver his continued involvement with the company, including Indycar, means that they are able to call on his experience when required and it was interesting to see Alonso driving at the Bahrain F1 Grand Prix in season test. Alonso described the new car ‘as a step forward in all respects, but not enough to tempt him back’.

Replacing Alonso in the driver line-up are Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz in a bold and exciting move that looks like it may well pay off. Sainz is a dependable driver with a sensible head and good race craft. We have yet to see him in a truly competitive car but he certainly has potential. He is partnered with rookie driver Lando Norris who on his debut has demonstrated not just excellent raw speed but also a mature head and reassuring humility. Norris is definitely one to watch and has a bright future.
The factors described above have all combined to create a resurgent McLaren who look like they may well be able to be the ‘best of the rest’ this year. Whilst it is still too early to make any definitive predictions the possibility of a McLaren revival is within grasp. All the indications are that we are seeing the start of a McLaren revival which may well see Zak Brown deliver on his 5 year plan and McLaren back where they belong on the top step of the podium.