How Brown turned McLaren's fortunes around after the difficult Honda era

The British team dominated the first half of the year in particular, winning 11 of 14 rounds prior to the summer break.

Lando Norris went on to clinch his first world title in Abu Dhabi, ending the season just two points ahead of Max Verstappen with Oscar Piastri third.

A significant part of McLaren's success has been down to the CEO Zak Brown, who has overseen the team's rise to the top.

The American joined the McLaren team in November 2016 as Executive Director before becoming CEO 18 months later.

When Brown was introduced to the F1 team, they were stuttering at the back of the field with unreliable Honda power and a frustrated Fernando Alonso.

McLaren and Honda split at the end of 2017, but a switch to Renault power for 2018 yielded little improvement in results initially.

The 2019 campaign saw an all-new lineup of McLaren junior Norris and Carlos Sainz. McLaren also scored their first podium finish for five years when Sainz was classified third in Brazil.

Norris took his first podium a year later in Austria as McLaren was the best of the rest behind Mercedes and Red Bull. The British team competed safe in the knowledge that Mercedes engines were returning in 2021.

McLaren were laying the building blocks of a championship-challenging team before the ground effect era. They scored multiple podiums, and Daniel Ricciardo won at Monza in 2021.

Brown built on this and made the key decision to promote Andrea Stella from Racing Director to team principal in December 2022.

The Italian replaced Andreas Seidl, and McLaren ended the 2023 campaign scoring podiums and a Sprint win in Qatar.

In 2024, McLaren were able to match Red Bull and give Norris half a chance of winning the championship.

The British driver dominated at Zandvoort and in Singapore but eventually missed out on the title to Verstappen, despite McLaren winning the Constructors' title.

This year was an excellent season for the British team, retaining the Constructors' Championship at a canter.

McLaren had two drivers, Norris and Piastri, challenging for their first title and it was a relatively calm rivalry.

Piastri obeyed team orders to let Norris through at Monza, while the pair only collided once in a Grand Prix in Canada. Both also failed to finish after an incident in the Sprint in Austin.

Brown has overseen McLaren's superb rise up the order in F1, and they head into 2026 defending both championships for the first time since 1999.