Zak Brown ‘wishes’ McLaren didn’t race ‘miraculous’ F1 driver in Drive to Survive

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McLaren CEO Zak Brown admits in the latest season of Netflix’s hit ‘Drive to Survive’ that he wishes his F1 team did not race against Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso.

The Spaniard switched to the Silverstone squad last season and led Aston Martin’s rise in the constructors’ championship. Alonso would also finish his first year racing in green with P4 in the drivers’ standings. But McLaren marginally edged Aston Martin to P4 in the team’s table.

Alonso joined Aston Martin after two years at Alpine to add another team to a CV which has twice featured McLaren. The 42-year-old raced for the Woking natives in 2007 and returned from 2015 to 2018. He has also raced for Minardi, twice at Renault and had a stint at Ferrari.

McLaren turned their 2023 season around to usurp Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin

Aston Martin were only the seventh-best team on the Formula 1 grid in 2022 with Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll. They scored 37 and 18 points respectively that season before Alonso arrived to replace Vettel. He posted 206 points to Stroll’s 74 in 2023 and took eight podiums.

Alonso even burst out of the gates as an Aston Martin driver with six podiums over the first eight Grand Prix. He finished P3 on debut at the Bahrain GP, and again in the Saudi Arabian GP, the Australian GP and the Miami GP before P2 results at the Monaco and Canadian GPs.

McLaren would not take a rostrum until Lando Norris finished the British GP in second from second on the grid. He also briefly led their home race at Silverstone after McLaren brought major upgrades to the Austrian GP. Only Max Verstappen outscored Norris after Silverstone.

Zak Brown admits he fears Fernando Alonso’s ‘miraculous results’ in Drive to Survive

Norris scored further podium finishes with second place at the Hungarian GP, the Singapore GP, the Japanese GP, the United States GP and the Sao Paulo GP, plus one third place at the Qatar GP. While rookie teammate Oscar Piastri also took third in Japan and second in Qatar.

Piastri further won the Sprint at the Qatar GP to help McLaren turn their season on its head after a disappointing start. The MCL60 was one of the slowest cars on the grid until McLaren took upgrades to Austria. Norris finished the driver’s championship in P6, with Piastri in P9.

Stroll, meanwhile, could only achieve P10 with his 74 points to Alonso’s 206, Norris’ 205 and Piastri’s 97. So, with P4 in the constructors’ championship at threat come the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP, Brown feared what Alonso could produce to see Aston Martin beat McLaren.

Brown told Netflix in episode 10 of season six of ‘Drive to Survive’: “I wish we weren’t racing Fernando ‘cos he’s capable of pulling off some miraculous results.

“Fourth would be amazing given where we started [the season]. I think if it’s fifth, we’re all going to be [annoyed], especially because of the last couple of races.”

McLaren flew to Abu Dhabi after Norris crashed out of the Las Vegas GP and Piastri only got P14 in Sao Paolo and P10 in Sin City. But Norris and Piastri beat Alonso for P5 and P6 at Yas Marina. Stroll finished his year with P10 to see McLaren outscore Aston Martin by 22 points.