McLaren CEO Zak Brown would be ‘naïve’ to rule out rival F1 team winning races soon

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McLaren CEO Zak Brown has admitted that it would be ‘naïve’ if he ruled out one rival Formula 1 team joining the growing fight to earn Grand Prix wins in the 2025 season.

This year is already turning out to be a classic for Formula 1 with McLaren regularly fighting against the modern establishment for victories. But Brown expects the four-way fight at the front can grow even larger next season with it being the last year of the current regulations.

Formula 1 will introduce the largest regulation overhaul in more than a decade in 2026 with new engine and chassis rules. The existing generation of cars only came into existence from the 2022 season when Red Bull absolutely aced the re-introduction of ground-effect F1 cars.

Zak Brown would be ‘naïve’ to rule out Aston Martin winning Grand Prix in 2025

Rival teams have spent the last three seasons trying to play catch-up to Red Bull and, finally, delivered this season. McLaren have seen Lando Norris win the Miami Grand Prix and Oscar Piastri win the Hungarian Grand Prix for their two drivers’ first main race wins in Formula 1.

Mercedes have also returned to the front of F1 after George Russell won the Austrian Grand Prix and Lewis Hamilton took his record ninth British Grand Prix win, before also topping the Belgian Grand Prix podium. Ferrari, too, won races through Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Aston Martin from F1 team principal to lineage

But Brown believes Aston Martin are a real threat to join the fight for race wins next season. The McLaren CEO refuses to rule out another team capitalising on the final year of the rules and creating a race-winning package, even if Aston Martin have fallen off the pace this year.

“Next year could be an epic season,” Brown proposed, via quotes by Marca. “It’s simply an evolution of four teams fighting for the championship, and I think it would be naïve to rule out someone who is not in the top four at the moment.

“We can see how quickly things have changed with Aston Martin going backwards, but they could improve again.”

Aston Martin have scored 293 fewer points than McLaren in 2024

Aston Martin were emerging as the best-of-the-rest team behind Red Bull at the start of the 2023 season. Fernando Alonso took six podiums in the first eight Grand Prix of the year after joining from Alpine. But Aston Martin failed to keep up in the development race last season.

In the end, the Silverstone squad would only manage fifth in the constructors’ championship with 280 points. Red Bull ran away with the title with 860 in front of Mercedes (409), Ferrari (406) and McLaren (302). But McLaren have their set eyes on winning the 2024 teams’ title.

READ MORE: Everything to know about Formula 1’s 2026 engine and chassis regulations

Continued progress from the Woking outfit saw Norris and Piastri combine for 366 points in the first 14 races of 2024. Red Bull remain out in front but only on 408 with 10 races to play. Ferrari (345) and Mercedes (266) are comfortably ahead of Aston Martin (73), plus RB (34).

Aston Martin fell to fourth in the constructors’ championship after the 14th of the 22 rounds last term at the Italian Grand Prix, which is round 16 of 24 in 2024. Red Bull led the way with their 583 points from Mercedes (273), Ferrari (228), Aston Martin (217) and McLaren (115).