Brown: McLaren anticipating ‘good’ 2019 F1 car

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says the team is “anticipating a good car” for the 2019 Formula 1 season. 

The Woking squad will continue its recovery bid in the upcoming campaign as it looks to build on the sixth-place finish it claimed in the 2018 constructors’ championship during its first year with Renault engines. 

McLaren has hired ex-Porsche LMP1 boss Andreas Seidl to head up its F1 operation in what marks the headline announcement of its recent management shake-up following the resignation of Eric Boullier last year amid a poor start to the season. 

“We’re anticipating a good car,” Brown said. 

“The off season development has gone according to plan but you ultimately don’t know what the competition has been up to and the competition is tough and is getting tougher. 

“We need good feedback from them [new drivers Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris] - this will be a much different car to 2018. Their feedback is excellent.

“We want them to race the field hard. Naturally teammates race each other hard but they do get on and are good guys and for us to move forward as a team we need them both bringing back the cars and the points. They know that. That’s the team goal.” 

Despite its switch from Honda to Renault power units, McLaren failed to achieve its target of returning to the podium last year having produced a disappointing car design, leading to the departure of two-time world champion Fernando Alonso. While Brown is confident of improvement with its 2019 challenger - the MCL34 - he is keen to steer clear of making any bold predictions. 

"All the men and women back at McLaren having been working extremely hard to make sure we build a better car than 2018, because I know these guys won't want to drive last year's car!,” Brown added.  

“As far as on track, I think we want to stay away from making predictions. I would say our expectations is that we will continue to make a step forward. 

“Last year was a step forward, although not the step forward we had hoped to make. So our expectations are that we are going to continue that journey in 2019, but I want to stop short of saying where that will be in the constructors’ championship. 

“I know where I hope to be, but I don’t know where we will be until we hit the ground running.”