<figure id="attachment_2932752" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2932752" style="width: 1600px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" src="https://media.freemalaysiatoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/53b49da8-mclaren-zak-brown-07122024.webp" alt="" width="1600" height="1000" class="size-full wp-image-2932752" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-2932752" class="wp-caption-text">McLaren&#8217;s chief executive Zak Brown (right) says they’re trying to do what got them to Abu Dhabi and not race differently or think about the championship. (AP pic)</figcaption></figure>
ABU DHABI: McLaren are back on the brink, but this time Formula One&#8217;s second most successful team are one step away from returning to the top rather than being at risk of financial failure.
Four years ago, in a 2020 season hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, the once-dominant former champions were in desperate need of a cash injection.
Sunday&#8217;s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix could seal a remarkable comeback for the British-based team who have won more races (188) than anyone other than Ferrari (248) &#8211; their current rivals for the crown.
McLaren, who entered in 1966 and are the second longest continuous participants in Formula One after Ferrari, lead by 21 points with 44 still available.
They have been top since Baku in September and their status as favourites was only improved by a 10-place grid penalty collected by Ferrari&#8217;s Charles Leclerc.
Apart from Williams, whose last championship was in 1997 and who have not won a race for 12 years, McLaren have the longest gap between crowns and &#8211; despite claims of feeling calm and relaxed &#8211; the stress is rising.
&#8220;We&#8217;re trying to do what got us here this weekend and not kind of race differently, not think about the championship,&#8221; McLaren&#8217;s American chief executive Zak Brown, who joined in 2016, told reporters at Yas Marina on Saturday.
Brown admitted, however, that he would be lying if he pretended his mind was not running away with all the calculations.
Sleepless nights
The stress still feels very different from 2020, when the finances led to sleepless nights.
&#8220;I needed to protect the team from them being aware so everyone could remain in the very positive energetic spirits they were in, because the team was progressing nicely. So, it wasn&#8217;t a comfortable place at all,&#8221; said Brown.
US-based investment group MSP Sports Capital was announced as a significant minority stakeholder on the day of the 2020 season-ender, investing £185 million (US$236 million).
The last time McLaren were champions was the year Mika Hakkinen took the first of his two drivers&#8217; titles, before Michael Schumacher&#8217;s run of five successive championships for Ferrari.
Ron Dennis was then the boss, another era.
Lewis Hamilton, now a seven times champion, won his first with McLaren in 2008 and the team scored more points than anyone in 2007 but were stripped of them for a spying scandal involving Ferrari data.
McLaren, the team of champions like late great Ayrton Senna and rival Alain Prost, then endured three bleak years with Honda engines from 2015-17 and in 2020 were ending a spell with Renault before switching to Mercedes.
Andrea Stella, who previously worked at Ferrari, was promoted to principal in 2022 in what now looks like a masterstroke.
Britain&#8217;s Lando Norris debuted in 2019 and Australian Oscar Piastri, last season in an exciting young driver pairing.
&#8220;We&#8217;ll be massively disappointed to not win it but if that unfortunately happens we need to shift quickly to look at what we&#8217;ve done this year and where we&#8217;ve come from,&#8221; said Brown.
&#8220;We&#8217;ve come from the brink of insolvency to five race wins, second most podiums consecutively in the history of McLaren, gone down to the last race against Ferrari and beaten Red Bull and Mercedes.
&#8220;If you&#8217;d told me at the beginning of 2023, I&#8217;d have bit your hand off.&#8221;

MatchPoint Times

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