“A pretty good chance”: Why Zak Brown believes Red Bull driver Sergio Perez will be the most important factor in the 2024 World Championship title fight
Max Verstappen has scored two thirds of the points for Red Bull so far in the 2024 Formula 1 season. And this is precisely where McLaren boss Zak Brown sees the greatest potential for his own team in the constructors’ championship: that only one driver at Red Bull is achieving the really good results
“So in the end, does it come down to Sergio Perez’s performance? If he does what he can do, then it will be difficult. But if he continues to do what he has done so far this year, then we have a pretty good chance. Because both our drivers are consistently at the front,” says Brown in an interview with the BBC.
However, he expects a “tough” title fight and does not expect a decision “until the last race”, Brown continued. Because the difference between the Red Bull RB20 and the McLaren MCL38 is “not so big” that one team can pull away from the other significantly in advance.
McLaren is ahead of its own plan
The fact that McLaren has even come within striking distance of Red Bull after 14 of 24 Grands Prix in the 2024 season is an explicit surprise to him, says Brown. “Red Bull had such a big advantage. “
“I had the impression that we were gradually closing the gap. But would I have dreamed that we would be just one race away from taking the championship lead at the summer break? We would have to achieve a one-two finish and set the fastest lap for that. That’s probably not going to happen.”
But the current trend is in McLaren’s favor: In the most recent four Grands Prix since Austria, the traditional British team has made up plenty of points on Red Bull – first six, then nine, 27 and most recently another nine points. That makes a total of 51 points, just over two Grand Prix victories.
And that makes McLaren boss Brown extremely confident: “If we keep up the momentum of the last six or seven races, then we will be where we need to be at the end of the season. I didn’t think we’d be there until 2025. But I’m not complaining!”
