When the 2025 F1 season rolled out, McLaren presented a familiar and formidable driver pairing. Entering his seventh campaign with the team, Lando Norris carried the weight of 2024’s successes—four Grand Prix wins, multiple poles, and a hard-fought runner‑up finish in the Drivers' Championship—into a calculated assault on the next frontier. Oscar Piastri, in his third year of F1, was no less determined. The Australian had secured two race wins in 2024 and, bolstered by a multi‑year extension that kept him under McLaren’s banner through 2028, reflected readiness to challenge—and perhaps surpass—his teammate and rivals alike. 

This dynamic duo wasn’t just about existing—they intend to conquer.

Underpinning McLaren’s resurgence is CEO Zak Brown, a figure who once took a brand known for legacy and nudged it back into the present—and beyond. Brown’s leadership prioritized personnel, infrastructure, and daring, ordering car development that reeled in the details and dared to redefine McLaren’s aerodynamics through “brave risk,” a mentality shift from keeping pace to beating everyone. 

His publicly captured the emotional peaks of 2024: that championship win in Abu Dhabi described as “the worst two hours of my life,” followed by exhilaration—an emotionally honest portrait of a leader who felt it as much as he strategized it.

Mid‑2025, as the Norris‑Piastri rivalry intensified, Brown stepped in again—committing to fairness, respect, and team unity as pillars to carry them forward. 

His vision is ambitious and unapologetic. With ideal lines drawn between constructors’ glory and drivers’ triumph, Brown reasserted the team’s vow: to win both titles and to do so through resilience, creative engineering, and confident daring—embodied in both machine and mindset.

In racing, a slipstream offers speed—but McLaren’s story is not about drafting, it’s about leading. The 2025 season reads like a revival —from design rooms sketching “brave risk” wings, to pits fine‑tuning setups, to drivers pushing beyond limits. 

Norris, once considered potential but tentative, has become the benchmark of consistency and conviction. Piastri, once the newcomer, now contends with the weight of expectation and matches Norris stride for stride—tyre management his newfound strength, keeping him competitive over race distances and through pressure cooker duels. 

The MCL39, an evolution of excellence, glides through corners that once questioned McLaren’s pace. The team’s strategy rooms hum—no longer reactive, but proactive, trusting the car, the drivers, and themselves. 

As the calendar tilts toward fall, the slipstream they chase is no longer just about positioning—it’s momentum, belief, and unity. McLaren may have emerged from obscurity, but they no longer chase; they lead.