Brown explains how budget cap helped McLaren to compete with top teams
zak-brown-in-hungary Photo:RacePictures
10:01, 13 Aug 2025
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Hidde Korte is an editor at GPblog, specializing in Formula 1 news. With a background in journalism and a strong passion for the sport, he delivers timely and reliable coverage of the pinnacle of motorsport.
McLaren enjoyed a dominant first half of the season, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris leading the drivers’ championship and the team topping the constructors’ standings. CEO Zak Brown explained the source of this success.
In an interview with How Leaders Lead, Brown attributed the team’s strong performance to the budget cap: ''That was a huge, and we were lucky on timing from a COVID point of view. Obviously COVID was a terrible thing, but it put the sport under an immense amount of pressure.''
''And that was right when we were talking to the budget cap, which was actually going to be significantly higher. So we got a little bit lucky with the timing because it allowed me to push even harder to get the budget cap down.''
McLaren team has been extremely successful and dominant this season
'Top teams were disadvantaged by the introduction of the budget cap'
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Brown saw mainly the top teams of then struggling due to the introduction of the budget cap.
The introduction of the budget cap has benefitted racing, Brown thinks: ''Last year we had seven multiple winners. First time I ever recall that amount of winners in Formula 1.''
''Four different teams that won races. The top three teams swapped the constructors championship late in the year. And that's because now we're all playing with the same size bat.''
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