When Brown first joined the Woking-based team in the UK, they had come off the back of a tumultuous 2015 season which saw them struggle with their Honda power unit, leading to multiple technical failures. Things would unfortunately get worse for the team, as they finished ninth in the Constructors' Championship in 2017.

Brown revealed: "It was as bad as you could get. Ninth in the championship, very little sponsorship, fans aren't happy with you. And what was worse, was the environment, the lack of trust and transparency inside the factory was not good."

After a difficult 2017 season, McLaren's 2018 car looked barren of sponsorship throughout the season, with the team switching from the Honda power unit, to Renault for 2018. Brown was also promoted to CEO of McLaren Racing in April 2018 and began to lead the team in a more direct way.

Brown continued: "I thought, 'there has to be greatness in here.' The first thing I wanted to do was rebuild trust through transparency and hit on all of the different areas."

Brown added: "I didn't like the direction the team was going in and the leadership around what we do today, {which is} incremental gains, never being satisfied, striving for perfection and never getting to perfection because you can always do better but still chasing it."

In 2019 and 2020, McLaren achieved podiums with both drivers at the time, Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris, and during the 2021 season they managed to take victory at the Italian Grand Prix with Daniel Ricciardo.

During 2023, the team acquired rookie Oscar Piastri, who went up alongside Norris, but the team struggled at the very first race in Bahrain, leading to both cars being forced to retire from the race. However, at the end of that season, the team took multiple podium finishes, and Piastri managed to win a Sprint race in Qatar.

Brown revealed: "It's the same 996 people that gave us the car that was ninth quickest on the grid in Bahrain, that gave us a car that was running at the front by the end of the year. That's the power of people and leadership and teamwork and alignment."

Now, McLaren have won both the 2024 and 2025 Constructors' Championships, and currently lead in the Drivers' Championship with Norris just one point ahead of Piastri. However, Red Bull's Max Verstappen has rapidly been closing the gap, as we approach the final four races of the season.

Want to stay up-to-date with what happens in the F1 paddock? Then GPblog's F1 Paddock Update video is the perfect way to do it. Subscribe to GPblog's YouTube channel and turn on notifications to never miss the latest episodes.