Motor racing-Brown hails McLaren's 200th win as close to perfect

The Star

2 days ago

FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - McLaren event in London - Trafalgar Square, London, Britain - July 2, 2025 McLaren chief executive Zak Brown during an interview with Reuters at the McLaren event in Trafalgar Square Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra/File Photo
BUDAPEST (Reuters) -McLaren boss Zak Brown hailed the team's 200th Formula One win, with Lando Norris ahead of championship leader Oscar Piastri in a one-two finish in Hungary on Sunday, as close to perfect.
The win was Norris's fifth of the season and McLaren's seventh one-two in 14 races as well as the team's fourth in a row.
"You're never perfect in a race but I think that was as close to perfect as you can get," Brown told Sky Sports television.
"The drivers were awesome, pit stops amazing, strategy was great to get Lando up there, Oscar drove brilliantly. I couldn't be prouder of this racing team."
Norris and Piastri crossed the finish line 0.698 of a second apart, with the pair almost touching when the Australian tried to make a move on his British teammate on the penultimate lap and locked up.
Team principal Andrea Stella said it had been 'firm' racing but also fair between rivals now separated by just nine points.
"We had a bit of a lock-up with Oscar but at the same time Lando left some space because he knew that Oscar would have been at the limit of braking," said the Italian.
"We keep being very proud of our Lando and Oscar for racing. I think this is a great way of honouring Formula One racing. These are the value of McLaren."
Despite celebrating his ninth career win, Norris said he needed to improve because he was making life too hard for himself.
He won from third on the grid, after dropping to fifth at the start and then making a one-stop strategy work with Piastri on two.
"It's going to be a good and tough battle probably until the end. It takes a lot out of you trying to focus so much for every single session, race, everything. So, it's going be a long second half of the season, I'm sure," he said.
"There are those things I need to improve on and want to improve on. I'm not giving myself the best opportunities. Even though the results have looked great, I'm not making my life very easy for myself at the minute.
"So if I can work on those things, then I'll be in a better place."
McLaren are only the second team to chalk up 200 grand prix wins since the world championship started in 1950. Ferrari, yet to win this season, are on 248. Mercedes, next after McLaren, have 130.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Christian Radnedge)