Overhauling Red Bull in the final year of F1’s ground-effect era, Zak Brown is not frustrated that Formula 1 is undergoing a technical reset this year, he’s relishing the challenge that lies ahead.

Four years into Formula 1’s ground-effect era, which ran from 2022 to 2025, McLaren clinched the championship double for the first time since 1998 as Lando Norris won the Drivers’ title with Oscar Piastri helping McLaren to the teams’ trophy.

McLaren chief: That’s the exciting part of Formula One

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Alas, all of that counts for nothing this year.

Although Norris will carry the number ‘1’ on his car, that’s about all McLaren will carry over – at least on the track – from last year’s success.

That’s because this season Formula 1 is undergoing the biggest technical reset in the sport’s history with all-new cars and a new engine formula.

The cars are not only 20 centimetres shorter and 30kgs lighter, they also incorporate active aerodynamics and will be powered by engines that run on sustainable fuel with an increase in electrification to a 50/50 split with the internal combustion engine.

‘Overtake’ mode, an increase in engine power that can be activated when a car is within one second of the car ahead in certain areas of the track, replaces DRS while ‘boost’ is available at any point in the lap for an added power injection.

It’s a step into the unknown for every one of the 11 teams.

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For McLaren, it comes at a time when the Woking team finally returned to the top step of Formula 1 season’s podium.

Winning the Constructors’ title in 2024, the team added a second successive teams’ trophy last season while Norris wrapped up the Drivers’ title by two points to end Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s reign.

But rather than be frustrated by the timing, Brown says everyone at McLaren is up for the challenge that lies ahead.

“I mean, it’s been an amazing quest to go from where we were, not only on track, but off track,” he told PlanetF1.com and other media outlets in Abu Dhabi.

“As far as the rule book, that’s the exciting part of Formula 1, we’ve got to do it all over again.

“We changed a lot of our car this year so even though the rules didn’t significantly change, our technical team didn’t sit still.

“And just like our technical team, you know, the our leadership team, our CFO, our head of HR, our commercial team, our head of comms, chief of staff, they all have to do an amazing job because the complexity of a Formula 1 team to be able to put the technical team and the racing team in a position to win.

“There’s a lot of stuff that has to go on behind the scenes to even give them the tools, the resources and us the people.

“So it’s a great accomplishment, because we definitely earned it the hard way, and now we got to do it all over again, and it’ll be tough, because, as I say, the worst team in Formula 1 is really good.

“So not only the competition of the drivers, the competition of the teams. There’s no more small teams anymore. There’s none of those minnow teams that we all grew up with.

“You know, everyone’s running at the cost cap. The sports unbelievably healthy and, yeah, it’s been very enjoyable, and looking forward to.”

McLaren and its rival Mercedes-powered team will get their first indication as to whether the Mercedes power unit could be the one to beat when testing begins in late January.

Formula 1 will host the first group test with the new cars beginning January 26th in a behind-closed-doors outing in Spain.

Teams will then head to Bahrain for the first open test with media and fans able to see the cars in action. That runs from 11 to 13 February with a second Bahrain outing from 18 to 20 February.

The F1 2026 season will begin with the Australian Grand Prix on March 8.

Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher

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