If the last few weeks have shown one thing, it is that Formula 1 never stands still. McLaren has made great strides in closing the gap on defending champion Red Bull in the world championship standings. McLaren CEO Zak Brown now even believes the constructors’ title is within reach and identifies Red Bull’s biggest weakness: “I think at the end of the day it will depend on Perez. Because it is safe to assume that Max will be first, second or third in every race all year long – probably more likely to be first than third.”
A comparison of the points yield from the last five Grand Prix weekends clearly shows that Max Verstappen is currently a lone fighter for the Bulls, whereas the team from Woking has two irons in the fire with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Piastri collected 71 points, Norris collected 70 points in this period. The two are absolutely on the same level. The difference between the Red Bull team-mates, however, is drastic, with Sergio Perez only contributing 11 points to Verstappen’s 94 points over the last five weekends. Accordingly, the McLaren drivers have already overtaken the Mexican in the drivers’ championship.
“Sergio’s poor performance opens the door for us. I think if we have the same number of points in the remaining races of the year as we have in the last six races, we can do it. We are aware of that,” Brown clarifies. However, the McLaren team is not thinking so big at the moment: “We are trying to improve every session, every week and the result will come by itself.”
Zak Brown: The championship will be epic!
At the start of the season in Bahrain four months ago, everything pointed to a Formula 1 season that Red Bull would completely dominate. That the balance of power has changed so quickly and that it is so close at the top is therefore a big surprise, says Brown. “Now we have all caught up,” he notes Red Bull’s shrinking lead in terms of further development of the car. The American businessman regrets that the season did not start now, when there is a thrilling four-way battle. “It will be an epic championship. I mean, Mercedes seems to be in very good shape now. Ferrari is there. So you get the feeling that there are four different teams that will win races in the second half of the year,” says the McLaren CEO enthusiastically.
It is precisely for this reason that questions are becoming increasingly louder as to whether Sergio Perez is still viable alongside Max Verstappen, now that the Milton Keynes-based racing team is in danger of losing the constructors’ title. “I would be very concerned about the lack of performance,” admits the McLaren CEO. Does this mean that Perez’s end at Red Bull is already sealed? Motorsport-Magazin.com has spoken to the Formula 1 expert Christian Danner talked about this topic. You can hear his opinion in this video: