Zak Brown reflects on McLaren’s title-clinching pit stops, emphasizing their precision under immense pressure during a season-defining moment in Abu Dhabi.
Zak Brown is convinced that the Constructors’ title could have been decided during the pit stop at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The McLaren F1 CEO highlighted that Lando Norris emerged 1.7 seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz thanks to a quick stop and noted that if the Spaniard had been within a second, the situation would have been difficult to manage.
“I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the pit crew tasked with executing a two-second pit stop,” Brown stated on the High Performance podcast. “And they did it. While the season spans 24 races, you could say we were seven-tenths of a second away from losing the championship.”
“Because Lando came out with a 1.6 or 1.7-second lead over Carlos, and Carlos was fast. With dirty air, even though Lando still had some energy left, if Carlos had been within DRS range, I don’t think we could have defended. The Ferrari is very fast on the straights, and Lando would have been caught in dirty air.”
Brown reiterated the pressure on the pit crew: “Imagine, Carlos comes in, gets a 2.2-second stop, and you know you have to do better. What pressure! They stepped up, delivered the best pit stop of the race, and that’s what the team has done all year. It’s incredible.”
The American emphasized the high stakes for teams, even for tasks often seen as routine: “Things need to go as usual.”
“It’s easy to say, but of course, that’s not exactly the case—everyone knows it’s not business as usual. A lot of people asked me what we’d do differently for this race or the last two.”
“I think you have to stick to what got you to this position. As soon as you start changing your approach, you risk losing what has worked. We’ve made great pit stops all year, hold the world record, and don’t need to remind the team what’s at stake. I think they get it.”
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Flawless Pit Stops Saved McLaren’s Title Hopes, Says Brown Flawless Pit Stops Saved McLaren’s Title Hopes, Says Brown
