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McLaren CEO Zak Brown has continued to be cautious of the team's prospects ahead of the Hungarian GP given the circuit's peculiar layout that includes a lot of slow-speed sections.
The British outfit has shown an impressive surge in form in the last couple of races, with their upgraded MCL60 helping the team secure a P2 finish in Silverstone as well.
Having said that, the fast-speed nature of the circuits in Silverstone and Austria appeared to have played into the team's strengths. Coming to Hungary, a track that is predominantly slow-speed in nature, we're looking at a race weekend where McLaren are not expected to perform at the level it did in Silverstone.
Cognizant of the limitations of the car, Zak Brown was a bit cautious about McLaren's prospects this weekend. Talking to Sky Sports F1, Brown commended the team's recovery this season but admitted that he was a bit cautious this weekend. He said:
“I think everyone at McLaren did a great job. We’re coming from a pretty low base from where we were at the start of the year. So I think now is where we should have been and we recognized that early on. Everyone at McLaren has just done a fantastic job, [now] head down and we continue to push.”
He added:
“We know our car’s really good in high speed. So Austria we were strong, Silverstone we were strong. That’s why we’re a little bit more cautious here in Hungary but we think the upgrade will work well here as well. Some of the slower tracks will probably be a bit more challenging for us but it was also good to see Oscar [Piastri] when he got the upgrades to perform on the same level as Lando [Norris]."
Oscar Piastri draws special praise from McLaren boss
Zak Brown praised Oscar Piastri for his rookie season so far. The youngster has not lagged too far behind teammate Lando Norris. Talking about the Australian, Brown said:
"He doesn’t really lack much, even though the qualifying stats are nine to one, I think when you look at the actual lap times they’re very close. I mean in Silverstone there was less than a tenth. They’ve raced each other earlier in the year."
He added:
"They raced each other hard but raced each other so he’s not off by that much and I think that’s just going to come with a little bit more time. We need to remember he didn’t even race last year and then some of these tracks are brand new too so he’s exactly where we want him to be at this point.”
The team will be hoping to put together a strong weekend in Hungary and continue their good run of form. It will be a testimony of the kind of progress the team has made with the MCL60 after a dismal start to the season.
