McLaren: Prestige, not money, main reward for third place
McLaren Formula 1 team chairman Zak Brown insists that the squad's jump to third place in the world championship is more about prestige than any financial benefit.


McLaren pipped rival Racing Point to third at the season finale in Abu Dhabi last weekend, with Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz finishing fifth and sixth.
The jump from fourth to third represents a significant step in the team’s share of the F1 prize fund, and may also have triggered sponsor bonuses, as contracts often specify extra payments based on championship performance.
The result came on the same day that McLaren announced significant new investment from a US consortium. However, Brown insisted it wasn’t about the finances.
“It's sporting prestige,” Brown told Motorsport.com. “The money's obviously nice. But when you're on the pit wall, you're thinking about it purely from the sporting standpoint. And then you get to the office on Monday, and you think about the financial side.
“The team's done an unbelievable job to do everything we've been through this year, bringing on a new investor at the weekend, and then clinching third in the championship when we had a very good car, but clearly last year's Mercedes is faster!
“Couldn't have wrote it better. But it's so tight. We could have been fifth this weekend and have a totally different conversation.”
Brown says improving on this year’s third place and closing the gap to Mercedes and Red Bull in 2021 will be a much tougher challenge.
The American also expects to see a resurgence from Ferrari after the Italian team faded to sixth place this season.
"I think it will be harder,” he said. “I think we got to keep our feet on the ground. You've got to expect Ferrari to come back strong next year. We know they're gonna have two very strong drivers, in Carlos [Sainz] and Charles [Leclerc].
“I think you got to assume they're gonna be right back where we expected them to be this year. So I think it's gonna get real tough from here on out.
"We've got everything we need now, especially with our new investors. Andreas [Seidl] has done an outstanding job. I think we're just getting started, but it's gonna get harder.”
Read Also:
Brown said the well-matched driver pairing of Norris and Sainz was key to McLaren’s resurgence, and gave the team an edge over Renault and Racing Point.
“If you look, [Esteban] Ocon came on strong at the end, but Daniel [Ricciardo] carried the team there.
“And then Sergio [Perez] is at a whole other level. And he carried the team there. So I think we've benefited from having two very strong drivers, as opposed to one.”
Related video

F1 entry fees revealed as teams costs are cut
Why Abu Dhabi's biggest disappointment wasn't lack of action

Latest news
The underdog F1 squad that thrust Senna into the limelight
The Toleman TG184 was the car that could, according to legend, have given Ayrton Senna his first F1 win but for Alain Prost and Jacky Ickx at Monaco in 1984. That could be stretching the boundaries of the truth a little, but as STUART CODLING explains, the team's greatest legacy was in giving the Brazilian prodigy passed over by bigger outfits an opportunity
Why Aston Martin is unlikely to repeat Jaguar’s F1 mistakes
Two famous manufacturer teams born out of humble midfield origins, splashing the cash while attempting to rise to the top of F1 in record time. There are clear parallels between Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin and the doomed Jaguar Racing project of 22 years ago, but Mark Gallagher believes struggling Aston can avoid a similar fate.
How rejuvenated Haas recovered its F1 mojo
US-owned but until recently Russian-backed, Haas seems to have reached a turning point in car performance after three gruesome seasons. And it needs to if it’s to attract fresh investment. Team boss Gunther Steiner tells Oleg Karpov how close Haas came to the abyss.
How F1 race leaders have now lost their comfort blanket
As Formula 1 teams have settled down in understanding the new generation of cars and the way they need to maximise their performance, fresh lessons have emerged. Jonathan Noble investigates how they have brought with them an all-new kind of grand prix racing
Gilles Villeneuve's 10 greatest F1 drives
Formula 1 lost one of its brightest stars when Gilles Villeneuve was killed during practice for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. Forty years on, Motorsport.com picks out the greatest drives by a Ferrari legend
The silver lining of Ferrari’s Miami GP defeat
OPINION: Much was made of Formula 1’s first Miami Grand Prix – what turned out to be a very ‘marmite’ event for both those in attendance and everyone following on TV. But even as the on-track battle between Red Bull and Ferrari it produced continued the negative run of results for the red team, it contained a glimmer it must hope continues to shine
How imperfect Miami offered F1's drivers a unique challenge
OPINION: Despite all of the stylistic embellishments festooning Formula 1's inaugural Miami Grand Prix, the Miami International Autodrome offered the drivers a unique challenge and punished driver errors; a stark contrast to the usual cast of modern-day circuits
Why F1’s turbulent relationship with Russia is nothing new
Russia’s involvement in Formula 1 has been big on promise but short on delivery – then reached the end of the road prematurely. MARK GALLAGHER investigates why