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Zak Brown is hoping to lead his McLaren team to another world championship as the Formula 1 regulations undergo a major change.
The Woking outfit are the holders of both world championships coming into 2026, with Lando Norris defending his maiden crown after beating Max Verstappen and teammate Oscar Piastri in 2025.
But the 2026 F1 regulations will throw a huge spanner in the works as teams work on how to build a competitive car with the new chassis and aerodynamic rules. Pre-season testing got underway in Barcelona, and McLaren’s MCL40 caught attention.
Is there a vendetta against McLaren?
It is believed that Mercedes will have the fastest power unit in 2026, which would give McLaren a huge advantage in the championship. While the Brackley outfit have tried to underplay this, many are keeping tabs on them and their customer teams.
Gary Anderson saw McLaren have ‘exciting’ turning vanes under the nose of their car, which are used to manage airflow. He suspects that their rivals will try to copy it as the season goes on.
But it was not just McLaren who caught the eye of rivals in the paddock. Red Bull were also a team to watch as they rolled out the RB22.
Zak Brown was left ‘pleasantly surprised’ by Red Bull’s progress with their 2026 engine
The Milton Keynes outfit are entering a new era in 2026, becoming a power unit supplier for the first time in their history. Red Bull have come a long way to get the engine up and running, leaving many to wonder where they will end up on the grid.
Besides Isack Hadjar crashing at the final corner on day two, the Barcelona shakedown was plain sailing for the team. They showed impressive reliability that even Brown had to admire.
Talking about the shakedown in a media press conference, via journalist David Land’s YouTube channel, he said: “So early to tell, but it kind of looks like the usual suspects, but too hard to tell in what order.
“The Red Bull engine was very strong. I think everyone was, let’s say, pleasantly surprised. I’d rather them not be as competitive!
“But, impressed with what they’ve done because they came out, they did a lot of miles and they seem to be very competitive.”
READ MORE: All you need to know about McLaren F1 Team from team principal to engine
Zak Brown thinks Mercedes are the favourites ‘right now’ for the 2026 title
Martin Brundle thinks Toto Wolff will be keen to beat McLaren in 2026 after seeing Mercedes’ customer team win the last two championships. As Brown notes, it is hard to know where each sits in 2026, but ‘right now’, he thinks the Silver Arrows are the favourites.
“It looks like the big four are the big four, hard to know yet in what order. If you went to Vegas today, I think Mercedes looks like the favourite sitting here right now, but a long way to go.
“Williams didn’t make it out, Aston got out at the very end. So you have no idea where Williams stands. I think the grid will be more spread out, which is to be expected in new formula for a little bit.
“So last year in Abu Dhabi, I think a second covered the entire field. I would anticipate it being two or three seconds, covers the entire field, but that’s normal.
Are we entering another era of Mercedes engine domination?
“We’re going to have to learn how to race these cars a little bit differently because they run out of deployment.
“So, I still think there’s some work to be done with the FIA to refine the rules to make sure that, while there’s strategy and how you deploy the battery and the energy that we’re not running out of energy at the end of straights and getting into lift and coast.
“I don’t think that’ll be visible to the fan because we were three, four seconds off what was last year’s pace, but you can’t see that.”
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