Source: REUTERS/JAKUB PORZYCKI
[Saba Sports News] McLaren Racing has secured the 2024 F1 Constructors’ Championship, marking their return to the championship throne after 26 years. As a team that had fallen to the bottom, who is the biggest contributor to this once-great team’s revival? It is necessary to recall the situation at the end of 2016 when Zak Brown had just become the owner of McLaren. As he explained in a recent interview, he found that the team lacked all the necessary elements to build a successful operation: no reasonable personnel structure, insufficient investment, an outdated wind tunnel and simulator, almost no sponsors, dissatisfied employees, a controversial board, and worst of all—a non-competitive car. In other words, this was a team that had lost all its dignity. At that time, the entire F1 was overshadowed by Mercedes, which was McLaren’s former partner. In 2017, Zak Brown began the team’s rebuilding process. Initially, he hoped Spanish driver Fernando Alonso could lead the team to revival, but this collaboration proved unsuccessful. Zak Brown started to realize his limitations in knowledge. Therefore, he sought suitable people and delegated authority to fill these gaps. He was not a team owner who micromanaged; individuals like Andreas Seidel and Andrea Stella joined the team, helping it get back on track. The results of Zak Brown’s reforms were remarkable, and the team’s revival was finally completed, with the added joy of defeating Mercedes, their former partner.