The director of McLaren believes that competition in Formula 1 has never been as challenging

Over the past five years, Formula 1 has undergone significant changes. The increase in TV rights, the expansion of the calendar, the new audience, etc. have been several factors taken into account, such as the arrival of Drive to Survive and the fact that F1 was the sports championship that resumed the earliest during the Covid period.

The apotheosis of this show was the 2021 season pitting Red Bull and Max Verstappen against Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. The few people who were still indifferent to the idea of ​​watching a race experienced a season full of twists and turns.

Always changing for the show.

At the end of the 2021 championship, the regulations were modified with the introduction of the floor. These reforms were meant to create more excitement on the track and provide new battles, especially with the engine freeze. However, at the end of the year 2023, the result is not as expected. Max Verstappen easily won both editions and Red Bull dominated the championship.

Despite this clear result, Zak Brown is convinced that F1 should enter a new phase of entertainment. The CEO is convinced that the sport is about to become different from anything we have seen before once Max Verstappen is caught up.

If the constructors’ championship was not threatened (only one Grand Prix was not won by a Red Bull driver in 2023), the four teams behind had a tight battle. Mercedes, Ferrari, McLaren, and to a lesser extent Aston Martin showed similar levels of performance, alternating between good and not so good.

Mercedes and Aston Martin secured eight podium finishes, while Ferrari and McLaren both achieved nine. The only team that stands out among the four is the Italian team, with a Grand Prix victory in Singapore. The teams provided a fierce competition until the last race of the year. Ferrari finished 3rd, just three points behind Mercedes in the championship. As for McLaren, their comeback in the mid-season was remarkable. The orange team fought several times at the front of the race.

A highly competitive championship.

2023 has offered an interesting spectacle for the podium. In order for F1 to gain even more excitement, unpredictability, and competitiveness, Zak Brown believes that the gap with Red Bull must be reduced.

“I don’t think Formula 1 has ever been as competitive, and I believe it will become even more so,” stated the CEO on the Speedcafe KTM Summer Grill show. “Max and the RB19 were performing miracles, which made the front-running races more predictable than we would all like. But behind that, we were nine tenths of a second faster than at the beginning of the year, and we ended up being the second fastest. Then you had Aston Martin, initially the second fastest, dropping to fifth place.”

Zak Brown also added: « The teams were incredible, so I think the sport is very competitive. As soon as some of us catch up to Max, Formula 1 will be different from anything we’ve seen before.

The Orange team must unveil their 2024 car on February 14th.