‘Reading, Not Participating’ Strategy Has McLaren Poised to Exploit Distracted Rivals

The recent weeks of the F1 winter break have kept everyone involved in the sport incredibly busy. From Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari to off-track disturbances in Red Bull – a lot has happened. Meanwhile, McLaren has had a rather stable window, securing a long-term partnership between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. Appearing as a guest on ‘The Fast and The Curious Podcast, McLaren CEO Zak Brown detailed how they were happy to be the bystanders amidst the chaos.

Mercedes faces an uphill task in finding an appropriate replacement for Hamilton. The situation at Ferrari is also tense, given their situation with Carlos Sainz, who has to vacate his seat. Red Bull continues to struggle internally with the Christian Horner allegations.

Taking everything into account, Brown expressed his happiness over the stability of his team. He added he was happy just to read about everything that was going on around them.

“We’ve got real stability. We’ve got visibility to our future. We’ve got youth on our side. And, yeah, there’s been a bit of chaos in Formula One here recently, and we’re glad to just be reading about it and not participating in it.”

Hoping to return to winning ways, McLaren is happy to see chaos unravel in the top three teams. The Woking-based team is doing their best to chase down Ferrari, Mercedes, and Red Bull, and they appear to be in a very strong position. With all three teams weakened in some way, it might be the perfect opportunity for a stable McLaren team to capitalize.

McLaren drivers optimistic of beating Red Bull

Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are more than positive about the 2024 season. With a late surge in 2023, the driver duo believes their team has done enough to ensure they are equal to Red Bull in terms of performance. Despite often showcasing better one-lap pace, the McLaren cars could not keep up with Red Bull when it came to race pace.

However, Norris is confident the Red Bull team is “beatable.” While defeating them in a season-long battle remains a challenge, Norris is certain McLaren will go home with a few wins.

Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri remains wary of competition from other top teams. He, too, is optimistic about besting Red Bull on certain occasions but remains cautious in his approach. The Australian driver claimed that other teams would be looking for a resurgent season as well. Hence, McLaren needs to keep an eye on them.

Team Principal Andrea Stella has a much more pragmatic approach to things. He conceded that Red Bull will have the upper hand at the start of the season. However, Stella added that if they keep the development rates up, then they can be in a strong position.

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• carlos sainz
• Christian Horner
• ferrari
• Lando Norris
• Lewis Hamilton
• McLaren
• Mercedes
• Oscar Piastri
• Red Bull
• Zak Brown