McLaren drops blunt verdict on Red Bull's fall from being the F1 benchmark

McLaren boss Zak Brown does not think Red Bull's drop from being the best team on the grid is a surprise, as he points to a loss of some of the key personnel within the team. The 2023 F1 season saw the Austrian team win almost every race except one in arguably the most dominant campaign by an outfit.

From that peak, the drop for Red Bull has been drastic, to say the least. The team started the 2024 F1 season positively as well, with Max Verstappen being dominant from the very first race. Things started to take a turn for the worse from the race in Miami, where McLaren's upgrade helped the squad to jump to the front.

From that point onwards, Red Bull has been on a slow downward spiral that meant McLaren dethroned the Austrian team for the title. Even in 2025, the British team has continued to hold the lead and be the benchmark in the sport. In an interview with the Telegraph, Zak Brown was questioned if he was surprised by the sudden drop for the Austrian team.

The McLaren boss felt that something like this was not much of a surprise, especially since Red Bull had been losing one talent after the other. Pointing out how a team struggles to bounce back from losing an Adrian Newey, Rob Marshall, and Jonathan Wheatley, Brown said,

"Am I surprised that Red Bull has fallen back? No, I'm not surprised. When you lose guys like Adrian Newey, Rob Marshall, Jonathan Wheatley and probably more people, it's not that strange. And from what I read, Red Bull mainly says that they won't miss them."

He added,

"But that's what it seems like. Rob Marshall now works for us as Chief Designer and is a very smart engineer. I see what he has brought to our team. He does a fantastic job."

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McLaren boss on the technical director clamping down on flexiwings

The FIA will be introducing a stricter test in a clampdown on Flexiwings in Barcelona. McLaren is considered one of the pioneers on the current grid when it comes to making the most of these solutions, and there has been a suggestion that the Woking-based team could have some level of impact on its car performance. Zak Brown, however, is not too perturbed, as he feels the team would not struggle as a result of the clampdown, he said,

"It doesn't make any difference to us. We're not worried about that rule change at all. There have been a lot of suggestions from others about our car in the past period. And none of it has been accurate. But the more they are distracted and focused on our car rather than their own performance, that can only be a good thing."

At this stage of the season, the Woking-based squad looks poised to dominate the season as the car appears to be a step ahead of the chasing pack.