McLaren CEO Zak Brown believes the team is “starting the journey to recovery” after a strong first four races in 2019.
The British outfit has scored three top-eight finishes so far, with a seventh and eighth last time out in Baku catapulting McLaren to the lead midfield position of fourth in the Constructors’ standings.
This comes as Brown is implementing a five-year plan to get the team back to the top in Formula 1, having not won a race since 2012, and the American sees the early results as a good early sign.
“I think the team’s done an excellent job over the winter, and that’s everybody,” he told RaceFans.
“Clearly we’ve built a better race car this year, the drivers are doing an excellent job, we’re pleased with the driver line-up.
“So it feels like we’re starting the journey to recovery.
“Last year we were talking more about the start of the road to recovery but by the end of the year, it felt like we were less competitive than the start of the year, where now it feels like we’ve started in a more competitive situation.”
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There has been a lot of change at McLaren in recent months, with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris a young all-new line-up looking to push the team forwards.
Behind the scenes, James Key has arrived as technical director from McLaren with Andreas Seidl also joining as the head of the F1 operation.
Last month, however, the impact of recent turmoil was revealed as the Racing arm of the company reported a massive £96m loss.
This came after the exit of Honda and their hefty financial contribution and the decision to buy engines from Renault.
Also, a drop in commercial revenue played a role as a result of poor performance on the track and Liberty Media’s extra spending off it.
That meant the entire McLaren organisation, despite surpassing £1bn in revenue only made £4.8m in actual profit.
