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Zak Brown says Lando is already back to work 2 days after F1 World Championship win
Jan 8, 2026
Zak Brown joins Jamie and Amanda after McLaren's Championship victory in Abu Dhabi only two days ago. Zak's new book 'Seven Tenths of a Second' offers a behind-the-scenes look into McLaren's huge comeback to Formula 1 over the past couple of years, leading up to Lando's 2025 World Champion title.
#ZakBrown #LandoNorris #F1
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0:00
So I'm working on my new book now, which is Holy Meep
0:03
That was close, because that's how I felt this weekend. Now, Lando Norris became Formula One world champion at the weekend
0:10
Yes, he did. McLaren did the double. They won the constructors, it seems like, months ago now
0:14
And the man behind it all is the boss of McLaren Racing, and he joins us now, Zach Brownswick
0:21
Why are all these radio shows so early? Well, tell me about it
0:26
I don't know, especially in this season. I had the school mum's blinking secret Santa lunch yesterday
0:31
so it's a hard call at this time. I know it's been a busy 48 hours for you
0:35
It has. How's your hangover? Well, you know what? Everyone asks me, I haven't even had a beer
0:41
What? I flew, what was it, 2 o'clock in the morning. So I landed, I'm packed, played with the dogs a little bit
0:48
and then had to go to Edinburgh. Did I pronounce that right? Yeah, it's good
0:52
Yeah, you did well done, American. I did that last year. I did Melbourne, and I started getting booed
0:56
and I was like, but that's how you spell it. Melbourne. So I've been working on that, so I'm glad I nailed that
1:01
And I did an event last night at Usher Hall for my book
1:05
which was great. It was a great group, a couple thousand people, and then got back at one in the morning, and here I am
1:12
Oh, you must be shattered. When do you see your family and all of that? They travel sometimes to the race with me
1:17
but my travel schedule's brutal. It's about 260 nights a year on the road
1:23
Oh, my God. I actually quite like my husband being out that amount of time, I reckon
1:27
Have you caught up with Lando at all? Have you spoken to him
1:32
We've traded notes. We obviously spoke right after the race, but they're testing, I think it's today
1:38
And then he'll be back tomorrow. Then we've got to go to Toshkent
1:43
You know, it's beautiful that time, but this time of year. Hang on, you've got him working? They're testing, yeah, because it makes sense
1:48
So as soon as the season's over, you test him. Hang on, don't you give him any time off
1:52
The poor boy, you've worked him to the bone. They'll all disappear through January
1:56
except we rotate. One gets the duty of going to Davos with us in the middle of January
2:01
I don't remember if that's Lando or Oscar's turn this year. So we're going to run hard up until Christmas
2:07
Wow. Oh my gosh. Now, I just want to, when you took over at McLaren
2:12
the car wasn't competitive, the team wasn't competing. If there was one thing
2:17
the one thing that you did that changed the kind of culture of the team, what would that be? A built, a lot of trust
2:23
That's kind of the obvious thing to say, but when you don't have trust But you do that through transparency and communication and kind of over communicating But I think the biggest thing we did was have everyone understand their individual contribution
2:36
and how that makes us faster as a race team. Because everyone assumes the head of aero or chief designer, of course, they're the ones making the cars
2:45
But if you kind of start with the ecosystem, it all starts with the fans, which means you've got to have a great communications and brand
2:52
You then turn those fans into sponsors. You have a great commercial team
2:55
You've got a financial cost cap, so how you spend your money is very important
3:00
That's where your finance team comes in, et cetera, et cetera. So once you explain to everyone
3:04
just because you're not designing the aerodynamics of the front wing, what you do in the communications department
3:10
the finance department, the HR department, et cetera, is critically important. No different here, right
3:15
Wow, there's two important people. So you've got the stars in the studio
3:20
but there's a machine behind it that makes it all work. A hundred percent. And I think it's the power of the machine, the power of the people
3:27
Once you get everyone understanding that when we won the championship in Abu Dhabi
3:33
that everybody played a role in that. And if you can get everyone in that mindset, then you build this awesome team
3:38
And it's amazing what people can do when they come together. It's an expensive sport
3:43
Just give us an idea of how much the cars are worth. So we spend hundreds of millions
3:50
You spend nearly $100 million on the development of the car. The actual physical car itself, once it's built, if you needed to go replicate that, it's about $4 million
3:58
$4 million. How much of that is Adrian Newey's wages? That's materials, hard costs
4:05
If you then start bringing in the team and the development and the R&D, then the number is hundreds of millions
4:13
I always try and think about it. When I see you crash, I think about how much money that must cost
4:17
Shame me you're such a dad. It's millions. Do you wince when the guys..
4:24
The bigger challenge when they crash, obviously you don't want to make sure no one is hurt
4:29
these cars are remarkably safe but remarkably dangerous, is in the cost cap, crash cars go in
4:37
So your first thought is a little bit less because crashing happens. I've got to write a check for X hundreds of thousands or millions
4:44
but that's now money that you can't spend on the development of the race car
4:47
So it an unproductive use of money as opposed to the money itself because you going to spend it somewhere and you rather spend it on developing a new front wing not replacing the one that just got crashed Right Obviously the sport going to change a lot next year Yep Who do you see as your kind of main competitors with the new regulations coming in
5:08
I think the sport is so competitive now. You know, I tell the team
5:12
even the worst team in Formula One is really good. You know, the days are gone
5:17
where the teams at the back are miles off. You know, Alpine is a great team, huge factory team
5:23
and we're 10th in the championship, and yet they're a threat to get into Q3 often
5:28
That's how close it is. So my point there is I don't think you can take anyone off the table
5:33
but I think it's the usual suspects. But when you do have a rule change, there is a chance, a good chance
5:40
someone gets it more right than you would have thought. And one of the big teams might get it a little bit more wrong
5:46
than you would have thought. Case in point, Braun, right? They were a small little team. Got it right
5:51
Ross Braun's a genius. Won the world championship. winning the world championship in a rules change
5:55
Your book is called 7 Tenths of a Second. Just remind us the relevance of that
6:00
That is Abu Dhabi last year. When it all came down to it
6:05
if we had been 7 Tenths slower in our final pit stop, we ended up having our best pit stop of the year
6:11
then Carlos Sainz and the Ferrari would have come out in our DRS
6:17
probably would have passed Lando. What do you got him back? Don't know. So you spend hundreds of millions, thousands of people
6:22
comes down to 710. So I'm working on my new book now, which is Holy Meep
6:26
That was close, because that's how I felt this weekend. Who have you upset in this book
6:32
Is there anyone who's going to be reading this at Christmas who's going to go, Oh, there'll probably be a few people
6:36
You know, when I wrote... That's always good. When I wrote the first round
6:40
I kind of let the fur fly, and I thought, instead of kind of creeping up on it
6:44
let's just go for it. And then the lawyers and my comms team get involved
6:49
So, but what we did is we kept the stories. we just had to pull out some of the names
6:54
So, you know, one of my favorite ones is something I had with a, who was a B-level actor
6:58
who's now a megastar. And they're like, okay, you can tell the story, but maybe don't put his name
7:03
Stop it. What was the story quickly? Because I know we've cut on time. I got into a bit of a beef
7:07
with an actor who stiffed me. This is, you know, 30 years ago
7:12
And took him to small claims court. And it was amazing. I played ice hockey with him
7:16
He owed me 1,500 bucks. I'd never been to court before, but it was all about justice
7:20
And so... Justice. I go in small claims court Is kind of like this school setting
7:25
And all these cases are ridiculous Because they all small claims court stuff And I was fully expecting his defense to be I did this celebrity race for all these actors And I was expecting it to be well Zach didn get me the gig It was one of the other actors So I get up I give my story and I like and I got nothing signed
7:42
and he stiffs me and I'm expecting that to be his defense. And he looks at the judge
7:47
and after I plead my case and he looks at me, great actor. And he goes, your honor, I've
7:51
never seen this man before in my life. And it was like, what? And, and I actually couldn't
7:58
prove, like the judge just wants to crank through this stuff and it was like, Mr. Brown
8:02
do you have anything to prove you know this guy? And I was like, yeah but I sent this fax and here's a pic
8:06
do you have any, and it was just like the ultimate knockout
8:10
yeah, I was done. Can you tell us can you even say what film he's been in
8:14
Initials? No, I'm getting nods out I got some nods there, let's just say he didn't show me
8:20
the money. Okay that's all we need to know. Now we said
8:24
earlier on that it's an expensive sport. You started, you wanted to be a racer
8:28
right? You started... Yeah, I did it for 10 years. You did, we were in karting
8:32
Karting, when everything went kind of all the way up until Formula 1, that's
8:36
where it all came to an end. Do you remember how did you, do you remember
8:40
how you managed to raise the money for your first go-kart? Your very first go-kart
8:44
Yeah, Wheel of Fortune. I was on Teen Week, won the first two rounds
8:48
won some his and her watches, and sell them at a pawn shop and go get a go-kart
8:52
Was this you? Was this it? We'll be right back
9:23
Such a cute kid. Shirt didn't fit though, did it? What happened to the baseball ambition
9:30
In order to be on the high school baseball team, you have to go to high school
9:35
And so that's where the baseball career came to an end. It fell down. Well, listen, we're out of time, sadly
9:41
But Zach's book, Seven Tenths of a Second, is out now. Zach, well done
9:45
What a fantastic season. Incredible. And I know that we're all ever so proud of you and Lando
9:51
and everything you've achieved. Good luck for next year. Zach Brown there you go thank you everyone
9:55
cheers Zach
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