McLaren boss responds to Toto Wolff comments as key mistakes called into question

Zak Brown of McLaren on the pit wall in Canada

Zak Brown believes Toto Wolff’s assessment of McLaren’s errors this year is accurate, and says the team are still learning how to be at the front.

McLaren has taken a signficant step forward this season, to the point of being able to think about challenging for the championships with maiden victories for both of its drivers, but mistakes have been frequent.

Zak Brown: Mistakes are learning experiences

Both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have scored their maiden Grand Prix wins this season, with Norris winning in Miami and Piastri in Hungary, capitalising on the great pace of a versatile MCL38.

But it’s McLaren’s first time really competing at the front in over a decade, with the team’s most recent Constructors’ Championship ancient history back in 1998 under then-team boss Ron Dennis – a very different squad to the one currently led by Brown and team boss Andrea Stella.

With Norris making some costly racing errors, particularly at race starts such as in Spain, Hungary, and Belgium, the team has also dropped the ball on occasion – such as being caught out on strategy in Canada and at Silverstone.

Addressing a comment made by Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff, McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes the errors his own team have made are only serving as growing pains for an outfit re-learning what it takes to compete at the very front.

“We’ve all made a variety of errors, which to me are learning experiences,” he told the BBC.

“I thought [Mercedes team principal] Toto [Wolff] was accurate with his comment. He said: ‘Well, sometimes you figure these things out once they’ve kind of been put on your plate.’

“So if I look at the mistakes we’ve made – whether those are drivers or us, kinda doesn’t matter; we’re one team – we wouldn’t make these mistakes again. We’re learning. And I think maybe because we have got where we are quicker than we thought, it shows we still have learning to do.”

Pointing to the example of Silverstone, in which McLaren finished third and fourth after leading 1-2 in the trickier damp conditions, Brown said he isn’t concerned about the mistakes being made at this point.

“We probably should have finished first and second at Silverstone,” he said.

“And yeah, Lando is trying to fight for a world championship. He’s going for it. He’s learning, as are we. So I’m not concerned about it.”

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Lando Norris using summer break to ‘reset’

Norris himself has made some costly errors, with a notable one coming just before the summer break as he ran wide out of La Source on the opening lap of the Belgian Grand Prix to dip a wheel in the gravel and fall down to seventh place.

Given he is trying to close down a near-80-point lead on Max Verstappen with a McLaren that now appears to be the class of the field, Norris said he is aiming to dig deep in the second half of the championship and not make some of the “silly” errors he’s been guilty of so far this year.

“I think I just need it to reset,” Norris told media including PlanetF1.com in reference to the summer shutdown.

“I’ve given away a lot of points over the last three, four races, just because of stupid stuff and mistakes, bad starts.

“I don’t know why. It’s just silly things, it’s not even difficult stuff. It’s just Turn 1, try to stay out of trouble, try to make sure there’s a gap and not get hit and I put myself off the track, so just some stupid things.

“The pace is good, the team is doing an amazing job, so I’m happy and in a way, I feel like I just don’t want to take a break, I just want to continue, because we’re in good form.

“Even today, I feel like the pace was very strong, but just the last two, three races, I’ve just not clicked as much as I needed to and given up a lot of points.

“So hopefully, I can come back strong.”

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