Name: Inside McLaren’s Comeback: Lando Norris & Zak Brown Tell The Story
Uploaded: 2025-07-24T18:19:25.000Z
Duration: 18 min 18 s
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McLaren Racing was founded by Formula One driver Bruce McLaren in 1963.

Gerund

After first entering Formula One in 1966, the England-based team achieved a first Grand Prix win in 1968 and took the Constructors' Championship title in 1974.

Past simple

Over the years, McLaren's drivers have included legends of the sport, including Niki Lauda, Ayrton Senna, Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, who won the Drivers' Championship in 2008.

But following that win, the team failed to take a championship title and in the latter part of the 2010s were often at the wrong end of the table.

In recent years, however, the team's fortunes have reversed, under the leadership of Zac Brown, who took the CEO position at McLaren Racing in 2018.

After climbing the leaderboards over the past few years, in 2024, McLaren senior driver Lando Norris achieved the first Grand Prix wins of his career, leading him to second place in the Drivers' Championships after a narrow victory at the final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.

His win secured the Constructors' Championship title for the team.

As media partner of McLaren Racing, we welcomed Lando and Zac to the CNBC Sanctuary in Davos, Switzerland.

I've got to ask you, okay, your feelings.

You won the Constructors' Championship for the first time in 26 years.

Zac, you said in Abu Dhabi it was the worst two hours of your life.

It certainly was, followed by a great 24.

Lando had to drive perfectly, which he did.

You know, we were in an epic battle with Ferrari.

Things were looking pretty good on Saturday.

Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari had a technical issue on Friday, so he was starting at the back.

So that was kind of the perfect setup for Sunday.

And then two seconds into the race, turn one, Max makes a bit of a lunge on Oscar.

And Charles has a remarkable first lap and makes up about ten positions.

And we ended up getting into a situation where Lando had to win because Ferrari got up to second and third.

And we were probably seven tenths away from being at high risk because Carlos in the second Ferrari was doing a very good job hanging on to Lando.

He was never more than two seconds behind.

So to kind of go through 24 races and spend hundreds of millions of dollars and everyone giving it their best effort to have your championship come down to effectively one pit stop in seven tenths of a second was pretty brutal on pit wall for two hours.

Lando, knowing all of this going on, how do you stay calm?

What's going through your mind at this time?

I didn't know all of this, which is probably the best part of it all.

I knew we had to beat Ferrari somehow, but I didn't know the exact numbers, which is not my job.

My job that day was to go out and win and do the best I could.

Once I knew Ferrari was second and third, I knew I had to stay out there and score as many points as possible.

So, I mean, it's stressful for me, but I have the adrenaline.

I have a lot of things going on, so I can concentrate.

But I remember going down some of the straights and we have the big TVs for all the spectators and the fans watching.

And I remember going down and watching them.

And I'd always see Zach on it, stressing and looking pretty nervous.

And it's hard to think about all of these things during it because you're so focused.

When you realized you'd got it, and that split second, Zach, what were your first feelings?

I think many people have said this is the biggest turnaround in the history of Formula One.

If you think about Lando's first win in Miami, 12 months earlier in Miami, we were the slowest team.

So, to have that type of turnaround was awesome.

You know, it was much more fun being the hunter.

And then we were the hunted the second half of the season.

So, you do get into a bit of a… You'd be ashamed to have gone through all this, lead the championship, and then lose it at the last race.

And so, I'm as motivated by the fear of defeat as I am the… I'm motivated by the thrill of victory.

Lando, of course, Zach's talked about the incredible win you had in Miami.

I mean, this is what I've dreamed of since I was a kid, right?

So, my flashback was back to when I was a kid.

So, when I was seven, eight years old, I remember watching Fernando and Lewis.

Quite a spectacular year, and that was my first time watching Formula One.

And I remember watching McLaren, watching Lewis as the Brit, and cheering them on and thinking, this is what I want to do one day.

Fast forward, and I was standing there and had the whole McLaren down below.

Andrea was up on the podium with me, and it was just like that moment of, wow, I've achieved what I dreamt of, what always seemed so distant, what always seemed so far away.

But just being there, being on that podium, and just feeling like, wow, I've accomplished something that I've always dreamed of was truly special.

So, again, as much as the Constructors' Championship was a memory for me, achieving a race win, my first race win in Formula One was something very special and also something I'll remember for a long time.

A Grand Prix can last up to two hours, so drivers like Lando need to be both physically and mentally prepared.

Oskar, my teammate, is going to have his own way of doing things.

Before I go out, for me, the more relaxed I can be, the better.

As soon as I try and create that situation where I'm tense, I'm like, OK, something big is about to happen, I need to do this.

That's when I just don't perform to the level that I need to.

And maybe that works differently for other people, and other people, you know, they go and have a kick with the football or they go do some boxing and they get hyped up.

The great thing is when you see, like on Netflix sometimes, you see their warm-ups all cool and it's like they're getting sweaty and I'm just lying there having a little nap.

What, you literally, you can have a nap before?

It's like the lower my heart rate, the better I'm going to do.

Because when I get in the car, as soon as the helmet goes on, you're in your own world.

As soon as that goes on, you're in your own little world and everything's disappeared and it's just you have to focus on what's ahead of you.

I'm still nervous, like I'm still crazy nervous before races and anxious and all of these things.

And I'm an overthinker, so I think of a lot of stuff.

So the more I can almost calm myself down and just think, OK, all I've got to focus on is the start.

Then after the start, the rest will happen.

But I'll react in the time rather than trying to overthink of every situation possible.

So finding out what works for you as an individual, I think, is one of the most important things.

After showing promise in motorsports from a young age, Lando joined Formula 2 racing, where he achieved great success, coming second in the 2018 Drivers' Championships before joining McLaren's Formula 1 team the following year.

After five years in Formula 1, the 2024 season was his most successful yet.

After winning his first ever Grand Prix in Miami, Lando went on to win three more times, taking second place in the Drivers' Championship.

Tell us about the very young Lando and what did it take to get to where you are?

I started karting when I was seven, eight years old.

Growing up, my hero was Valentino Rossi, who was a motorbike rider.

That's where my love and my passion was initially, but that slowly transitioned to four wheels.

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Inside McLaren’s Comeback: Lando Norris & Zak Brown Tell The Story

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