Zak Brown: McLaren’s title run had scars — and that’s why they’re better for 2026
Zak Brown doesn’t try to airbrush the messy bits. McLaren’s 2025 title double was earned with speed and bruises — a season littered with near-misses, a Vegas double-DQ and a strategic facepalm or two — and the CEO says that’s exactly what hardened the team heading into F1’s rules reset.
In an open letter on McLaren’s channels this week, Brown praised Red Bull and Max Verstappen for taking the championship down to the wire, and he didn’t duck the moments that kept the Woking heartbeat spiking. Lando Norris sealed the Drivers’ crown with third in Abu Dhabi as McLaren wrapped back-to-back Constructors’ titles, but Verstappen’s late charge made it feel anything but routine.
“We definitely made some mistakes that played into the hands of our competitors,” Brown wrote, nodding to the obvious lowlights — the double disqualification in Las Vegas and the Qatar strategy call that left Norris and Oscar Piastri chasing a gap they’d helped create. “These were dealt with swiftly and provided valuable lessons that made us better as a team.”
There’s an unvarnished line in there that sounds very Zak: “S*** happens.” It’s not bluster, more a window into how McLaren now operates. Misses are owned, debriefs are frank, and the team moves on — fast. “When we make mistakes, we take responsibility,” he added. “We address difficult situations directly, openly, and constructively, ensuring we move forward stronger and more aligned.”
That mindset mattered because 2025 wasn’t about one dominant car walking the field. McLaren had, more often than not, the most consistently competitive package, but Verstappen kept hauling the fight back to them with the relentlessness we’ve come to expect. A kinder bounce of fortune and this story might have ended differently.
Instead, it capped a two-year rise that really snapped into focus when Norris took his first grand prix win in Miami the year prior. From there, the execution level caught up with the pace. And when it wobbled, it didn’t break.
Of course, all of that gets thrown in the air now. With a sweeping regulatory overhaul arriving for 2026, Brown isn’t pretending the “reigning champions” label guarantees anything once the new machines roll out. “The label counts for little when we are all faced with a regulatory reset,” he wrote. “Our aim is to build on the foundations that brought us success in 2024 and 2025 and maintain the high standards required to compete at the front.”
Plenty in the paddock noticed McLaren leaning into 2026 early last season, dialing back late-’25 development to pour resource into the next era. It’s a bet teams have tried (and misjudged) before. But the current McLaren structure — Andrea Stella’s calm hand, a technical group that’s been sharpened rather than shuffled — has earned the benefit of the doubt. “Andrea and his leadership team have been quietly working hard in the background for a long time now to give us the strongest possible chance to get off to a strong start,” Brown said.
What’s interesting is the tone. No victory lap. No sweeping predictions. Just a bit of steel and a reminder that the margins will reset. That carries weight coming off a season where the most famous errors were public and painful. The Vegas DQ, in particular, stung — two cars thrown out on a Saturday night and a weekend flipped on its head. The response (and the points that followed) helped define McLaren’s season as much as the wins did.
There’s also the “young team” line Brown likes to use, which is less about age and more about a group that’s still accelerating together rather than managing decline. Norris stepped into the role of champion without losing the punch that made him dangerous in wheel-to-wheel fights. Piastri took another step — fast enough to win on Sundays, smart enough to help on Saturdays. The factory’s cadence improved. Pit wall decision-making tightened up after the Qatar miscue. It added up.
How much of that carries into the brave new world is the question everyone’s asking and no one can answer until the first real laps arrive. Power unit changes, aero shifts, and new compromises will reshuffle strengths and weaknesses. McLaren’s bet is that culture travels better than concepts.
Brown’s letter reads like a team that knows it won’t be given a head start for past glory — and doesn’t need one. The targets are simple, if not easy: start strong, keep the car in the window, avoid beating themselves. Do that, and they’ll be right where they finished 2025: in the middle of the fight, with a champion who’s learned to close and a team that isn’t afraid to admit how it got there.
