Zak Brown has admitted to being shocked by McLaren's competitive performance in the Formula One world championship this season.

McLaren sit just 42 points adrift of Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship, with lead driver Lando Norris also second to Max Verstappen in the standings.

The team have achieved podium finishes in their last 10 races, and they are well placed to challenge across the back half of the campaign.

Brown, however, was not expecting such success so soon.

"If I were to sit here and say I'm not surprised, that would be disingenuous," Brown told BBC Sport.

"Red Bull had such an advantage over everyone and Mercedes has been so dominant.

"I felt like we'd continue to close the gap. Did I think we would be here at the summer break, one race away from getting the lead?

"That race would have to be first and second and fastest lap, and do I think it's going to happen like that? No. But if we keep the same trajectory we've been on the last six, seven races, we'll be where we need to be by the end of the year.

"I thought we might get where we are now by 2025. I didn't think we would be where we are now in 2024. But I'm not complaining."

Both Norris and Oscar Piastri have claimed their maiden race wins this season indicative of an increasingly competitive McLaren.

Brown credits team principal Andrea Stella, who was appointed ahead of the 2023 season, for the growing success.

"He unlocked the talent that we already had here," Brown said. "We've got approximately 1,000 people here in F1. I changed three. But it was three leaders. So, 997 are the same people who gave us the [uncompetitive] car at the beginning of 2023.

"A leader's job is to get the most out of their people and that's what we didn't have previously. We weren't able to let the talent we have in here flourish.

"Andrea communicates very well. He listens very well. He's very hard-working. He's very technical. He leads by example. All the traits you would want in a great leader. He unlocked the potential this team clearly had sitting there."

While Piastri continued McLaren's podium success at the Belgian Grand Prix, Norris could not make gains in the driver standings despite Verstappen having to deal with a 10-place grid penalty.

He finished fifth, one place behind Red Bull’s reigning champion. Brown, however, sees these experiences as a learning curve for everyone.

"We've all made a variety of errors, which to me are learning experiences," he reflected.

"I thought [Mercedes team principal] Toto [Wolff] was accurate with his comment. He said: 'Well, sometimes you figure these things out once they've kind of been put on your plate.'

"So if I look at the mistakes we've made - whether those are drivers or us, kinda doesn't matter; we're one team - we wouldn't make these mistakes again. We're learning. And I think maybe because we have got where we are quicker than we thought, it shows we still have learning to do.

"Lando is trying to fight for a world championship. He's going for it. He's learning, as are we. So I'm not concerned about it."

Red Bull's internal issues may hit their Formula One team down the line, so says McLaren chief Zak Brown.

While Max Verstappen remains in control of the drivers' championship, and Red Bull lead the constructors' standings, their 2024 season has been far from ideal to date.

Red Bull remain in pole on the track, but there have been issues off it as team boss Christian Horner's future appears uncertain, while lead designer Adrian Newey is leaving.

Even if they are not caught this season, McLaren chief executive Brown feels the issues will eventually catch up with Red Bull if they do not find a resolution.

And while Red Bull have scored points in each of the last 55 races, with Verstappen having seven wins this season, it was Mercedes who triumphed at the Austrian Grand Prix and Silverstone in the past two races, leaving Horner's outfit short of momentum.

Ahead of this week's Hungarian Grand Prix, Brown said: "I think the turmoil will have more of a mid to longer-term impact.

"Adrian Newey... this car was done last year, what they are racing now was done when everything was fine.

"It's more 2026 when you've got a new engine coming, what's going on with the driver front? That's where you potentially are going to see the lack of stability that appears to be there maybe come through a little bit.

"Winning holds things together and as that becomes more of a challenge for them, that's where you might see some more fractures in various relationships inside that camp."

Brown's McLaren are enjoying a fine campaign. Lando Norris, with one race win under his belt and many other near misses, sits second to Verstappen in the standings, while the team are third in the constructors' championship, just seven points behind Ferrari.

Indeed, six drivers have already tasted victory in 2024, which is the most in a single F1 season since 2012 (eight).

And Brown feels next season will be an even more intriguing battle.

"I think next year could be an epic season, right? You could have four teams fighting for the championship," he said.

"It would be naive to rule out someone who's not in the top four right now, because we do see how quickly things can change.

"Everyone has very similar technology, so there's no reason why others can't do what we've done the last year."

This weekend's race will be the 39th edition of the Hungarian Grand Prix in F1. Since its appearance on the calendar in 1986, it is one of only four races that have been held each year without interruption, along with the British Grand Prix, Italian Grand Prix and Spanish Grand Prix.

DRIVERS TO WATCH

Max Verstappen - Red Bull

Verstappen has won the last two editions of this race, and the Dutchman is aiming to become only the second driver in F1 history to win three in a row at the Hungarian Grand Prix, after Lewis Hamilton between 2018 and 2020.

But the three-time reigning champion comes into the event after finishing fifth and second in his last two outings. He has not gone three successive races without a win since 2021 and on that occasion all three victories went to Mercedes, who have won the last two races.

Is that a bad omen for Red Bull?

Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

Hamilton celebrated his first victory since 2021 as he triumphed for Mercedes at Silverstone last time out.

The Hungarian Grand Prix has always been one of his favourite races and no driver has won it more times (eight), had more pole positions (nine), reached more podiums (11) and scored more points (271) than Hamilton at the circuit.

There is also a landmark in the offing.

Hamilton has been on the podium 199 times in his F1 career (49 with McLaren and 150 with Mercedes). His next top-three finish will see him become the first driver to finish on the podium 200 times. 

And even if Hamilton does not get a front-row placing in qualifying, do not rule him out. The last three Hungarian Grand Prix winners have not started from pole position. If this trend is repeated in 2024, it will be the second time that the winner has not started from pole position in four consecutive editions at the Hungaroring (four between 2008 and 2011).

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Drivers

1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) - 255
2. Lando Norris (McLaren) - 171
3. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 150
4. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) - 146
5. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 124

Constructors

1. Red Bull - 373
2. Ferrari - 302
3. McLaren - 295
4. Mercedes - 221
5. Aston Martin - 68

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has challenged Formula One and its governing body to demand greater transparency from Red Bull’s investigation into Christian Horner.

Horner has been cleared to continue as Red Bull team principal following an internal probe into “inappropriate behaviour” towards a female colleague.

Horner was on the Red Bull pit wall on Thursday for both practice sessions of the new season.

“I am pleased that the process is over and I cannot comment about it,” he told Sky Sports. “I am focused on the season ahead. Within the team it (the unity) has never been stronger.”

Red Bull Racing’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH, said it was confident the investigation into Horner had been “fair, rigorous and impartial” but added that the report – understood to stretch to 150 pages – is “confidential”.

It is understood that neither Formula One’s owners, Liberty Media, nor its regulator, the FIA, has seen the report.

However, there were growing calls in Bahrain on Thursday night for Red Bull GmbH to share the details of their investigation.

“I just read the statement, which was pretty basic,” said Wolff. “My personal opinion is we can’t really look behind the curtain.

“There is a lady in an organisation that has spoken to HR and said there was an issue and it was investigated and yesterday the sport has received the message that it’s all fine, we’ve looked at it.

“I believe with the aspiration as a global sport, on such critical topics, it needs more transparency and I wonder what the sport’s position is?

“We’re competitors, we’re a team and we can have our own personal opinions or not. But it’s more like a general reaction or action that we as a sport need to assess, what is right in that situation and what is wrong.

“Are we talking with the right moral approach, with the values based on the speculation that is out there?

“As a sport, we cannot afford to leave things in the vague and in the opaque on critical topics like this, because this is going to catch us out.”

McLaren CEO Zak Brown agreed with his Mercedes counterpart.

“It’s the responsibility ultimately of the organisers of Formula One, the owners of Formula One, to make sure that all the racing teams and the personnel and the drivers and everyone else involved in the sport are operating in a manner in which we all live by,” said the American.

“I don’t think it’s the teams’ roles and responsibilities. That’s up to FIA and Formula One to ultimately decide and ask what they feel gives them the level of transparency they need to ultimately come to their conclusion and we just have to count on them that they fulfil that obligation to all of us.”

The PA news agency has contacted Formula One and the FIA for comment.

Horner, who has protested his innocence throughout, was questioned by a lawyer for eight hours earlier this month at a secret London location.

He has been Red Bull team principal since they entered F1 19 years ago and is the longest-serving boss on the grid.

He has overseen seven drivers’ world championships and six constructors’ titles.

Red Bull have dominated the sport in recent seasons and last year won 21 of the 22 races, with Dutch driver Max Verstappen setting a new record for 10 consecutive victories as he wrapped up his third title.

Horner, who is married to former Spice Girls singer Geri Halliwell, was awarded a CBE for his services to motorsport in the New Year Honours.

Christian Horner wants his Red Bull future to be resolved “as soon as possible” as the embattled team principal fights to save his Formula One career.

Red Bull Racing’s parent company Red Bull GmbH announced on February 5 that Horner is being investigated following an accusation of “inappropriate behaviour” by a female colleague. Horner denies the claim.

Horner addressed the media alongside four other F1 team principals on the second day of this week’s three-day test in Bahrain on Thursday. The new season starts in the Gulf kingdom next Saturday.

Asked why he has not moved aside as team principal and chief executive of Red Bull Racing with the investigation under way, Horner replied: “As you are well aware there is a process going on which I form part of, and as I form part of that process, I am afraid I cannot comment on it.”

Horner was then asked if he could provided a timeline as to when the investigation might be over.

The 50-year-old added: “I am dreadfully sorry but I really can’t comment on the process or the timescale.

“Everybody would like a conclusion as soon as possible. But I am really not at liberty to comment about the process.”

Sources have indicated to the PA news agency that there could be a resolution before the opening race on March 2.

On Wednesday, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff called for Red Bull’s probe to be transparent, and said the controversy is “an issue for all of Formula One”.

McLaren chief executive Zak Brown, speaking in the same press conference as Horner on Thursday, echoed Wolff’s comments.

“The allegations are extremely serious,” said Brown. “McLaren hold themselves to the highest standards of diversity, equality and inclusion.

“These are extremely important to us and our partners, and to everyone in Formula One.

“Red Bull Corporation has launched an investigation, and all we hope and assume is that it will be handled in a very transparent way, and as the FIA and Formula One has said, swiftly, because these are not the headlines that Formula One wants or needs at this time.”

Red Bull won all but one of the 22 races last year as Max Verstappen stormed to the world championship.

The Dutch driver, in his heavily upgraded machine, set an impressive pace on the opening day in Bahrain, finishing 1.1 seconds clear of anyone else.

Mercedes’ George Russell said: “Red Bull are definitely the favourites and definitely a step ahead of everyone here in Bahrain. They have had an impressive winter, no doubt.

“Hopefully Red Bull are already in that sweet spot, and we can close the gap, but it is going to take a lot of hard work to do so.”