F1 Fans left bewildered by Zak Brown's outlandish McLaren claim

McLaren CEO, Zak Brown, has refused to accept that his team's dominance is only driven by the MCL39's raw pace. He claimed that on some weekends, the MCL39 wasn't the fastest car but still managed to win due to fewer mistakes. However, fans begged to differ on social media.

Brown's team is ruling the 2025 F1 season with five wins in the opening six races. With 246 points, they are leading the constructors' championship race, maintaining a 105-point lead over Mercedes.

However, despite the enormous success, Zak Brown believes the 2025 season challenger, MCL39's, raw speed is not the only reason behind their winning streak. In a surprising claim, the CEO said that in four of the six races, the Papaya team didn't have the fastest car.

"Australia had tricky conditions—the other three that we won, we weren’t even the fastest car. We just executed really well. A lot of racing to go, great to see the gap here, but we’re not taking anything for granted," Brown said (via lastwordonsports).

Meanwhile, Zak Brown's defiant claim on McLaren's pace advantage wasn't well received by fans on social media as they shared their reactions through comments.

"Downplaying their dominance," a fan said.

"You just won by 30+ seconds over the next team with 3 VSCs? It could have been up to 50 seconds. You didn't create a car; you created a time machine!" another fan said.

"Do they think we don’t have eyes? Their drivers are strong, but I don't know why they keep lying about this. A user commented.

A few fans urged Zak Brown and Co. to stop underplaying their dominance.

"McLaren constantly spinning of their own cars pace. Starting to get really annoying," said another user.

"Zak thinks nobody has eyes," a comment read.

"Clowning again," another user commented.

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finished the Miami Grand Prix with a gap of 32+ seconds to Mercedes, which is a significant sign of their dominance.

---

McLaren team principal accuses Red Bull of playing underdogs

McLaren team principal Andre Stella at F1 Grand Prix of Miami - Source: Getty

Apart from CEO Zak Brown, McLaren team principal, Andre Stella, also believes his team isn't dominant. He instead accused Red Bull of trying to portray themselves as underdogs. Talking to Autosport, he said:

“Red Bull, they are very good at making fast cars; they are exceptionally good, I would say, at driving fast cars, and they are extremely good also at creating the narrative to their advantage. They exploit every possible opportunity to stay in the competition, and some of these opportunities sometimes are to create the narrative, like, 'Oh, we are making miracles here; the others should win every single practice session, qualifying, and rac'e."

Stella added that Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris are improving consistently, as are the engineers back in the McLaren factory, to maintain the pace of the car.