McLaren F1 team's CEO Zak Brown shared there is still a lot of work to do for his team, but he feels great about the upcoming 2024 season.
McLaren finished the 2023 season in fourth place in the Constructors' Championship. However, statistics from the second half of the season indicate incredible progress and show McLaren in third place, just 16 points behind Ferrari.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown revealed positive information for the Papaya fans, saying the team has new equipment that will help with the car's development going into 2024. He told the media:
"We have everything we need, but we need a little bit more time. The upgrades were not done with some of our latest technology, and we're now in our wind-tunnel, we have our new simulator, our new manufacturing unit so that is quite exciting for us because we haven't benefited from those."
The team principal suggested all the progress McLaren made in 2023 was without having the latest technology equipment back at the factory, which he expects to make a difference going into 2024. He continued:
"We've got great people back at McLaren but we do have a couple of big hires that start in early January but of course, our 2024 has already been started."
While Brown admitted the team won't be able to maximize all of its resources until 2025, McLaren seems to be on a great trajectory ahead of the next season.
"We will have everything in place come January but 2024 has already started, so I think it will be 2025 before we've fully maximised everything, but I feel good about the '24 season."
The British team started with an underdeveloped car and was able to make the biggest step forward out of all the teams on the grid. If McLaren could make a similar step forward again, Red Bull Racing could be in trouble come 2024. Brown added:
"It’s been an awesome effort by Andrea and the entire team. The upgrades have been fantastic. The drivers are doing a great job, we’ve got great power coming out of our Mercedes power unit, so it’s been a wild ride."