Brown: McLaren won’t be distracted by title buzz in Abu Dhabi showdown

mclaren CEO Jack Brown has insisted the team is not distracted by winning the Constructors’ Championship in the Formula 1 season finale in Abu Dhabi.

McLaren has taken a lead of 21 points ferrari in the standings, and with both lando norris And oscar piastri While in the front row of the grid Charles LeclercWith a 10-place grid penalty and qualifying difficulties meaning a slow grid start for Ferrari, Brown could be forgiven for feeling overconfident.

However, he hasn’t worked out the changes that will crown his team as champions — but he has still sought some advice from his NHL-playing friends and Super Bowl champion Michael Strahan for some reassurance.

“We’re trying to do what got us here this weekend and not race differently. Don’t think about championships,” Brown said.

“There’s no lap where I’m calculating the championship (standings) like ‘He’s in that position. He’s in that position. Where are we?’

“I would be lying if I said it was pretty stressful. The team is relaxed.

“I’ve talked to several other athletes who have been in this situation. Mark Messier (six-time Stanley Cup champion). Michael Strahan (who won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants in 2007/08). Anze Kopitar (Slovenian professional ice hockey center and captain of the Los Angeles Kings) and they all say, ‘If you’re not nervous, you’re lying.’ So sure, there’s adrenaline and nervousness.

Brown admitted it would be “soul-crushing” if the team blew their lead in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, but speaking before qualifying he said if they did indeed miss out, he would know why. Needs to be put in place – and quickly.

He added: “Obviously, we’ll be very disappointed not to win it, but I think we have to – if unfortunately that happens – we need to turn things around quickly and look at what we did this year. and where we have come from.

“We came from the brink of bankruptcy to win five races, have our second consecutive podium finish in McLaren history, lost the last race against Ferrari, beat Red Bull and mercedes,

“So if you had asked me, at the start of ’23 you finished second in the championship, won five races with 14 consecutive podiums, I would have bitten your hand.

“So I think, of course, we will be disappointed, but we will need to quickly reflect on what we have achieved, and we will be very proud.”

McLaren has faced criticism this term for not prioritizing Norris’ bid for the drivers’ championship over Piastri.

Two scenarios in particular occurred at the Hungarian GP when Norris was instructed to hand victory, while at the Italian GP at Monza where Piastri performed an opening-lap overtake on Norris, causing the Briton to drop further down the order.

But Brown said that despite taking a detailed look at the campaign, he would not place blame on any such incidents.

“You can go back and look at many different points throughout the year where we left points in the table,” he explained.

“You can also see the moments that have benefited us. And I think the sport is a 24-race season. We all have a natural tendency to think that the last play is the one that broke the season, when in reality, it was one of the 20.

“So if we don’t win it, and we lose it by X points, I’m not pointing to any one thing. It goes like this.

“We see all the times in sports that that kick was missed in that game, OK, it was missed 10 other times, and it counted the same, just the last one you remember.”