McLaren Has Best Lineup On Grid And Wouldn't Even Consider Alternatives According To Brown

Wednesday, 17 January 2024 at 04:00

The CEO of the McLaren Formula One team, Zak Brown, discussed his driver pairing and suggested there is nobody on the current grid for whom he would trade any of his drivers.

McLaren struggled with their driver pairing ever since Daniel Ricciardo joined the team. The collaboration of the Honey Badger and the Papaya team just didn't go as expected, and therefore, a decision was made to replace him going into 2023.

It's brave that McLaren replaced the experienced 34-year-old with 22-year-old rookie Oscar Piastri. However, this move proved to be the right one for the team.

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Zak Brown said Lando Norris wasn't challenged by his teammate for a major part of the last couple of seasons, but that has changed with the arrival of the young Australian.

As it stands after the 2023 season, the CEO of McLaren's F1 team is confident he has the strongest driver pairing on the grid. He told Sky Sports:

"I think we have the best driver line-up in Formula 1. Oscar and Lando are who we want in our car. They are joint number-one decision."

McLaren has the youngest driver pairing out of all the ten teams, with an average of 23 years between the two. Some might suggest they still lack experience, but Brown already sees their immense potential.

The CEO asserted there is no other driver on in F1, not even the most experienced ones, that he would trade Piastri or Norris for.

"There's no one who could come knocking on our door that would make us scratch our head and wonder if we'd like them in our car instead. So very happy with our driver line-up and just want to continue with it for quite some time"

McLaren is the only team besides Mercedes that does not have to focus on the big driver market moves that are about to take place, with 14 drivers' contracts expiring.