Zak Brown plays down title talk for McLaren in 2022

Zak Brown has sought to deliver a dose of realism over the potential for McLaren to be challenging for the Drivers’ and Constructors’ championships this coming season in Formula 1, and says it’ll be a few more years before they’re right back at the front.

The 2022 campaign carries a real sense of intrigue as the new cars begin to be unveiled with them looking dramatically different to those of recent years.

Indeed, a swathe of new technical regulations is being introduced and many are interested to see which teams might be able to use them as a springboard to get amongst the fight at the front which has been largely dominated by Mercedes and, last year, Red Bull too.

Certainly, McLaren have been tipped by plenty as a potential dark horse for the coming campaign after embarking on another year of progression in 2021, and both Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris will be hoping that can be the case.

Their team’s CEO Zak Brown, though, has sought to put a lid on expectations for now:

“We’re still a few years away because we need things like our wind tunnel to come online to be able to really have everything that we need.

“We either have everything we need now or it’s been ordered, and it’s on its way, and it’s quite exciting because I think it’s going to be the team of people that we have that ultimately will get us back to the front.”

That all said, McLaren are building in the right direction and, who knows, if they have aced this year’s regulations they could be right back at the sharp end in 2022.