(Motorsport-Total.com) – McLaren CEO Zak Brown has provided insights into the changes in the team structure that led the Woking-based racing team from the back midfield to winning the Constructors’ World Championship in 2024 and 2025. The key factor was not only the technical development but above all a fundamental change in the working culture within the team.
Read more No Blame: The Path to Success of Zak Brown and McLaren
In a conversation with Will Buxton on the podcast “Up To Speed”, Brown explains that especially team principal Andrea Stella and a newly established technical leadership structure significantly contributed to the success. “It’s about people and leadership. I’m not talking about my own leadership, but about my leadership team under Andrea Stella’s direction, which is responsible for the performance of the racing team,” Brown continued.
Although McLaren made some personnel changes at the top, the vast majority of the workforce remained unchanged. “I replaced three of the most important leaders. But when we talk about around 1,000 employees in the Formula 1 team, the 997 who built a car at the beginning of the year that was probably the slowest on the grid are the same 997 people who built us a world championship car.”
No More Blame Within the Team
Brown sees the decisive difference in the leadership of the team. “The leadership that the entire team received ensured that everyone works in the same direction and pulls together. We constantly try to motivate each other to achieve peak performance and have created a great performance culture.”
A central part of this development was the abolition of a culture of blame. “It is a culture without blame. If we have a problem, and we do, then we take care of the problem and not the people. This creates a safe working environment. We work together.”
Read more No Blame: The Path to Success of Zak Brown and McLaren
The McLaren Design for 2026
When Brown started his work at McLaren, the situation looked different. “Back then, people blamed each other. I said: ‘It’s just one car. Maybe you think you’re doing great work on the front axle and the fault lies with the colleagues at the rear. But in the end, it’s a single race car. So can we learn to work better together?'”
The Cultural Change as the Basis of Success
Brown describes the subsequent change process as a long-term task. Within the team, they consciously do not speak of a journey but of a “quest.” “A journey means coming to the office every day. A quest is like a flight to the moon. It’s a much bigger challenge. That’s why we use this term.”
According to the McLaren CEO, this cultural change was one of the decisive prerequisites for the team to achieve the sporting turnaround and re-establish itself at the top of Formula 1.
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