“We’re Full Throttle”: Amidst Lando Norris’ Golden Run, Zak Brown Reveals Fiery Plan to Unnerve Rivals

Lando Norris is having the time of his life since the Austrian GP. The upgrades brought in by McLaren have greatly enhanced his performance. With 2 consecutive podiums, the Briton has scored more points in each race than he did in the first 8 races, combined. It is his time to shine. But to keep shining, the team has to consistently keep putting in the work. And McLaren CEO Zak Brown is in the zone to keep matching and improving such performances.

When any F1 team is going through a slump, they are brushed aside and criticized, irrespective of their past performances. Despite being one of the most successful teams in F1 history, McLaren struggled badly in 2023. And Brown faced the majority of flak from all possible directions. But now that their car is competitive again and drivers are super-competent to seal the deal, Brown is maintaining and accelerating the team’s progress.

After a rough patch, the Woking outfit has turned things around for the better. And in an attempt to keep striving for more, they are working in full force to translate the insights into better performance. Zak Brown said, as quoted by Sky Sports, “We’re pretty much staying the same, everything that we’re learning this season applies then to next season. So we’re head down, we’re full throttle.”

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“Full throttle” is exactly what McLaren needs to do if they intend to fight for victories against Max Verstappen. But Brown also has another potential problem on his hands, which is the risk of Norris getting poached by a better team. But he has his plan of action ready to not let that happen.

Zak Brown Reveals Plans Intended to Make Lando Norris Stick Around at McLaren

Poaching is a big concern for teams in F1. When the talent pool is so less and the pressure to do well is so high, the teams need to go all out to propel themselves toward the front and fight for victories. With McLaren showing inconsistent performance, rumors of Norris going to Red Bull had surfaced. But as their performance improved, the rumors reduced. Regardless of the presence of rumors, Zak Brown knows what the team needs to do to retain their star driver.

Brown said, post-race in Hungary, “I think the way you keep him is you give him a good race car. And as long as we can give him a good race car, he loves the environment, he loves the team, he’s been on this journey. Obviously, we were all a bit frustrated at the start of the year, but now two seconds on the trot, he’s qualified fifth, second, and third. So I think as long as we keep doing that, then he’ll stick around.”

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Now, McLaren has taken care of their poor performance and is no longer in the midfield. If they keep this up, the risk of losing a potential World Champion like Norris should be next to none. All eyes now shift to the Belgian GP as they look to extend their podium streak and climb places in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championships.