Andrea Stella + Zak Brown: McLaren’s transformation + the Drivers’ Championship race

F1 Beyond The Grid

karenellenbevan

Leisure, Sports News, News, Sports, Technology, Automotive

4.8 • 5.2K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

McLaren have won back-to-back Constructors’ titles for the first time since the early ‘90s.

Just eight years ago, in 2017, they finished second to last, so how exactly have they transformed into World Champions since then?

Speaking to Tom Clarkson at the McLaren Technology Centre, CEO Zak Brown and Team Principal Andrea Stella outline how they’ve masterminded McLaren’s remarkable turnaround together, revealing just how desperate the team’s situation was at the start of this journey, and how they’re planning to sustain their recent success in the years to come.

But in the immediate future, their eyes are on the next prize, as they chase a first Drivers’ World Championship since Lewis Hamilton won in 2008. Going into the final four rounds of the 2025 season, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are separated by just one point at the top of the standings. Zak and Andrea discuss how the pair have evolved during their time at McLaren, criticism of their approach to this title fight, and whether they’ll have any regrets should Max Verstappen beat Lando and Oscar to the crown.

This episode is sponsored by:

Vanta: get started at Vanta.com/GRID

Indeed: listeners of this show can get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at indeed.com/GRID

Shopify: sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/beyondthegrid

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	They are the constructors champions of 2025.
0:07.0	McLaren, world champions once again.
0:11.0	It's just as difficult being the hunter as it is to hunted.
0:15.0	The pressure when you've won inevitably goes up because you're at the top of the mountain
0:20.0	and everybody's trying to knock you off the top of the mountain, which means you can't get complacent.
0:24.1	We know it won't last forever, but if we keep doing what we're doing, maybe we can push out
0:29.2	that day as far as possible.
0:32.5	One trophy's in the cabinet, but there's another one still to win.
0:36.9	McLaren are one team with two drivers just one point apart.
0:42.3	When you are in my role, it's like when you have two sons,
0:45.3	and somebody says, like, which one is your prepared son?
0:48.3	Yeah, but they are my two sons.
0:50.3	Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri
0:52.3	are fighting each other to become Formula One world champion.
0:57.0	We're playing offense, we're not playing defense, and the best way to win the driver's
1:02.0	championship is they have two drivers going for the driver's championship.
1:06.0	From day one, we are racers, we are going to face it as racers. We are going to accept the discomfort that
1:12.5	this causes. An outside threat is adding to that discomfort, a resurgent Max Verstappen. It brings
1:20.9	back memories of 2007 when McLaren's Hamilton and Alonzo lost out to Ferrari's Rykenen at the final race.
1:29.9	In the event, 2007 happens again, I'd rather have that outcome than all the other outcomes by playing favorites.
1:37.2	We won't do it. We're racers, we're going racing.
1:51.0	Hello everyone, I'm Tom Clarkson and welcome to a special edition of F1 Beyond the Grid in which my guests are McLaren bosses, Zach Brown and Andrea Stella, the two men who've led
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from karenellenbevan, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of karenellenbevan and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.