Brown: We’ve got to climb the mountain again

Speaking to reporters on the opening day of pre-season testing in Bahrain, the McLaren CEO emphasised that despite last year's success, the team is starting from zero like all others.

Reflecting on McLaren’s approach to the off-season, Brown stated: "A lot of innovation on the car. So we definitely didn't put it away after Abu Dhabi and polish it and just roll it out here. It has a lot of innovation on it.

"Awesome. We won the world championship, that was last year, and now we all are tied for either first in the championship or last in the championship because we're all on zero points. So we've got to climb the mountain again."

Brown anticipates an intense and unpredictable 2025 season, with multiple teams fighting for victories: "I think it's going to be an epic season for Formula 1. I think it's going to be even more competitive than last year. Last year we had multiple winners, four teams won, I could see that being even more this year."

Asked about his mindset heading into the season, Brown admitted that there was a mix of anticipation and nerves: "That's how I go into every race weekend—excited and nervous, especially when it's as close as it is. So, more excited than nervous, but you’ve got to go again and look at how quickly we moved up the grid.

"Great work by the men and women at McLaren, but it shows what you can do with great work and everyone working really well together. And while the Big Four teams are strong, I wouldn’t rule out any of the other six joining the club. We just have to keep doing what we're doing."

Brown was encouraged by what he saw from the McLaren MCL39 on track: "What I'm liking is the car is doing what we thought it would do. Some of the innovations were bold, so we needed to make sure they were going to work, not be issues.

"We're ticking off the boxes—yes, that works, yes, that's going according to plan. It's way too early to see what the grid looks like, but our run plan is going as expected. I'm very happy with that," declared the McLaren team boss.

With new regulations arriving in 2026, Formula 1 teams must balance development between the current car and their future project. Brown acknowledged this challenge: "Same challenge everyone has. I think there'll probably be some teams that maybe don't put as much effort into '25 because they don't think they have a chance, and therefore double down on '26. That’ll be interesting to see."

McLaren’s driver pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri showed strong form in 2024, and Brown was asked about how the team would manage its line-up in 2025.

"Business as usual," he said. "First, we've got to give them both a car that's capable of winning the world championship, and then it's kind of over to them. They know the rules of the road.

"As we always do, there's a lot of transparency, a lot of communication, and they’re free to race, as we showed last year."

McLaren now faces three days of pre-season testing before the opening round of the 2025 Formula 1 season in Bahrain on 16 March.