Brown: Circuit Monaco suits MCL60 better than Miami

Zach Brown, who took part in the F1 Nation podcast, started talking about the upcoming Monaco Grand Prix with the success of his team’s drivers during qualifying in Indianapolis: all four Arrow McLaren cars will start the Indy 500 from the top ten, and Felix Rosenquist from the front row.

At the same time, we have to admit that in Monaco Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have clearly less chance of a good result, but the CEO of McLaren Racing does not lose his optimism.

Zach Brown: “We had a great result in qualifying and I would like to spend as much time in Indianapolis as possible because that is where we have a great chance of success. I hope for a good result in Monaco, but unfortunately it would be unrealistic to count on a win.

But in IndyCar, our racers are showing good speed all May and this weekend all four of them can win the Indy 500, although there are at least ten other contenders for the win. In general we have good chances, but the opponents are very strong.

If you compare these two races, there is a huge difference: in Indianapolis the battle takes place at very high speeds, while in Monaco the speeds are quite low. But at the same time, both races are world-class events, and the 24 Hours of Le Mans should be added to that. Incidentally, McLaren is the only team to have won all three.

All three are the brightest events in the motorsport world, as more than 300,000 fans gather to watch the Indy 500, 33 cars take to the start and speeds exceed 370 km/h. You won’t see this anywhere else.

And the Monaco Grand Prix is ​​the race with the richest history on the Formula 1 calendar. Qualifying there is nothing short of fantastic, and everything is accompanied by a downright magical atmosphere. So these are two very different races, but both are very exciting for the public, albeit for completely different reasons.

The stage in Miami was frankly unsuccessful for McLaren, but now we know what prevented us from getting better results, so the first step to solve the problems has been taken. That’s why I think we have to perform normally in Monaco. It is clear that we started the season with a car that still needed to be finished, but our business is already doing much better.

We think the Monaco circuit will suit the MCL60 better than Miami so it should be fine, although the pack is very tight at the moment and only a few tenths decide whether you get closer to the leaders or closer to the outsiders. I have to admit that hot weather doesn’t suit our car, the rear tires are starting to wear out a lot and it was very hot in Miami. In addition, there is new asphalt, which was associated with a lack of grip.

As in Bahrain, the conditions in Miami did not suit our car. Of course, if you have a good car, the difficulties seem less, and in general it copes better with different types of tracks, but I think in Monaco everything will turn out better. We also believe that we can perform well in Montreal, and very important technical innovations will be prepared for the Austrian stage and the British Grand Prix, so in the second half of the year we should add.