McLaren Racing heads into the Singapore Grand Prix as Formula 1's hot new darlings, the papaya-drenched team that just may be the ones to finally dethrone Red Bull and Max Verstappen.
Red Bull and its Dutch driver have had ironclad grips on both the drivers championship, and, the more lucrative constructors title for best car, since Verstappen won his first title in 2021. Verstappen now has three consecutive titles and leads the driver standings; Red Bull has back-to-back constructors titles but, headed into the weekend, no longer leads the standings.
McLaren took the top spot with Oscar Piastri's win last Sunday.
Coupled with Lando Norris' fourth-place finish, McLaren is now the constructors leader for the first time since 2014. McLaren last won the constructors’ championship in 1998.
McLaren starts the weekend in Singapore with a 20-point lead over Red Bull, which had led the carmaker competition since 2022. The race is Sunday.
“I think we’ve got as good a shot as anyone,” Zak Brown, the chief executive of McLaren, boldly declared last Sunday at IndyCar's season-ending race.
He'd watched Piastri win and McLaren move to the top from Nashville, Tennessee, and even with the big-talking American half a world away, McLaren still managed to make tongues wag at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
McLaren arrived in Baku and admitted it would prioritize Norris and the driver championship over Piastri for the final eight races of this season. Norris trails Verstappen by 59 points in the standings ahead of Singapore, and Piastri certainly accepted the team order in stride by winning the race.
“Obviously no racing driver wants to compromise their own race, so of course he doesn’t love it, but he’s a great team player, totally understands, also knows the role could be reversed in the future,” Brown said of Piastri being given the wingman role for the remainder of the season.
“Also, not totally out of the question, it can be reversed later this year. If Lando goes out and has a couple of DNFs, Oscar goes out and wins a couple of races — all of a sudden,” Brown shrugged. “So I think (Piastri) recognizes that what goes around comes around, and it can very much come around his way.”
Norris and Piastri have combined to win two of the last three F1 races for McLaren, while Verstappen hasn't won since the Spanish Grand Prix on June 23. While the team has said it wants Norris to dethrone Verstappen, Brown knows it is a longshot unless Norris can start sledgehammering-away large chunks of Verstappen's lead every race.
In Baku last Sunday, Verstappen finished one spot behind Norris in fifth and Norris only gained three points on the champion.
“Lando made some points, but he needs to double the amount of points he got (in Baku) every race to catch him,” Brown said. “I think that’s a tall order, but we’re gonna try.”
Make no mistake, though, McLaren is hyper-focused on the constructors title, which is the one that pays the big money. The payout to the winning team is set by variables each year but is typically worth at least $140 million in prize money.
Red Bull's falloff has been so dramatic that Brown doesn't even consider the team to be the top rivals for best constructor this year.
“I think Ferrari has showed how quick they are, so I actually think Ferrari might even be a bigger threat than Red Bull as we sit here right now because I think Ferrari will be really strong in Singapore,” Brown said.
Red Bull between Verstappen and Sergio Perez won 38 races over 2022 and 2023. Verstappen through 17 races this season has seven wins; Perez is winless.
Brown praised McLaren's rise under team principal Andrea Stella, who was hailed as “a wonderful team boss” by Brown.
“Andrea and the leadership team have been able to unlock the potential and the people,” Brown said of his young team's turnaround. McLaren is one of racing's most popular brands globally, and Brown has been clawing the team back toward the top-tier of F1 after a long drought.
It's been a sometimes-bumpy climb since Brown was named CEO of McLaren in 2018. He is, after all, the American who loves to stir the pot as much as he loves talking about his own racing career. Some of Brown's moves have been chaotic, particularly a messy 2022 when he successfully snatched Piastri and thought he had IndyCar champion Alex Palou locked down, too.
Palou — after a mediator said he couldn't join McLaren until 2024 — changed his mind last year and decided to remain with Chip Ganassi Racing in IndyCar. He didn't want to move to McLaren's less-competitive IndyCar team with the hope either Norris or Piastri's seat opened in F1.
Palou in Nashville won his third IndyCar title, and is headed to another mediator late this year in McLaren's $30 million breach of contract suit against the Spaniard.
The driver signing carousel became comical even among diehard McLaren fans, and that was before this year went wild before the season even started. David Malukas, the guy Brown hired last minute to take Palou's saved seat, broke his wrist a month before the IndyCar opener in a cycling crash and the team used three different drivers in that car this year.
Malukas was not one of them as McLaren had a contractual clause to fire him once he missed four consecutive races. The saga of that seat hurt the team, which didn't give Pato O'Ward a consistent car to fight for the championship, and Brown has again overhauled the driver lineup ahead of 2025 and O'Ward will have two new teammates next year.
It's taken him a long time to get McLaren back in F1, and Brown is pleased with the pace because where the team is headed into Singapore is a far cry from its disastrous and uncompetitive 2023 season.
Brown wants the IndyCar team at the top now, too.
“I want to get the IndyCar car team being where the Formula 1 team is,” Brown said. “I think we’re still a young team. We’re continuing to hire, continuing to make changes in the offseason... I kind of feel like the IndyCar team is on the same trajectory of the Formula 1 team, but the Formula 1 team is just ahead at the moment.”
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McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia, right, and McLaren chief engineer Tom Stallardcelebrate after he won the Formula One Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
From the left, second-placed Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco, McLaren's chief engineer Tom Stallard, first-placed McLaren driver Oscar Piastri of Australia, and third-placed Mercedes driver George Russell of Britain stand at the podium after the Formula One Grand Prix in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)
BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Hezbollah vowed to keep up daily strikes on Israel despite this week's mass bombing attack on its communication devices, and said Israelis displaced by the fighting from homes near the Lebanon border would not be able to return until the war in Gaza ends. Hezbollah and Israel launched fresh attacks across the border as Hassan Nasrallah spoke for the first time since the deadly device bombings he described as a “severe blow” — and for which he promised to retaliate.
The two-days of attacks targeting thousands of Hezbollah pagers and walkie-talkies have been widely blamed on Israel, heightening fears that 11 months of near-daily exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israel will escalate into all-out war.
During the speech, Hezbollah struck at least four times in northern Israel, and two Israeli soldiers were killed in a strike earlier on Thursday. Israeli warplanes flew low over Beirut while Nasrallah spoke and broke the sound barrier, scattering birds and prompting people in houses and offices to quickly open windows to prevent them from shattering.
Israel also launched attacks in southern Lebanon on Thursday, though it was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.
In recent weeks, Israeli leaders have stepped-up warnings of a potential larger military operation against Hezbollah, saying they are determined to stop the group’s fire to allow tens of thousands of Israelis to return to homes near the border.
The attack using electronic devices appeared to be the culmination of a monthslong operation by Israel to target as many Hezbollah members as possible all at once — but civilians were also hit. At least 37 people were killed, including two children, and some 3,000 wounded in the explosions Tuesday and Wednesday.
Nasrallah said the group is investigating how the bombings were carried out.
“Yes, we were subjected to a huge and severe blow,” he said. “The enemy crossed all boundaries and red lines,” he said. Pointing to the number of pagers and walkie-talkies, he accused Israel of intending to kill thousands of people at one time. "The enemy will face a severe and fair punishment from where they expect and don’t expect.”
He said Hezbollah will continue its barrages into northern Israel as long as the war in Gaza continues, vowing that Israel will not be able to bring its people back to the border region. “The only way is stop the aggression on the people of Gaza and the West Bank,” he said. "either strikes, nor assassinations nor an all-out war will achieve that.”
Earlier Thursday, Hezbollah said it had targeted three Israeli military positions near the border, two of them with drones. Israeli hospitals reported eight people lightly or moderately injured. Overnight, the miltiary said it struck several militant sites in southern Lebanon,
Hezbollah says its near daily fire is a show of support for Hamas. Israel’s 11-month-old war with Hamas in Gaza began after its militants led the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Israel has responded to Hezbollah’s fire with strikes in southern Lebanon, and has struck senior figures from the group in the capital Beirut. The exchanges have killed hundreds in Lebanon and dozens in Israel and forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of residents on each side of the border.
Israel and Hezbollah have repeatedly pulled back from an all-out war under heavy pressure from the United States, France and other countries.
But in their recent warnings, Israeli leaders have said they are determined to change the status quo dramatically.
Speaking to Israeli troops on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “We are at the start of a new phase in the war — it requires courage, determination and perseverance.” He made no mention of the exploding devices but praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies, saying “the results are very impressive.”
Gallant said that after months of fighting Hamas in Gaza, “the center of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces.”
Israel began moving more troops to its border with Lebanon on Wednesday as a precautionary measure, Israeli officials said. Israel’s army chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, said plans have been drawn up for additional action against Hezbollah, though media reported the government has not yet decided whether to launch a major offensive in Lebanon.
Lebanon is still reeling from the deadly device attacks of Tuesday and Wednesday.
The explosions have rattled anxious Lebanese fearing a full-scale war. The Lebanese Army said it has been locating and detonating suspicious pagers and communication devices, while the country’s civil aviation authorities banned pagers and walkie-talkies on all airplanes departing from Beirut’s international airport until further notice.
The attack was likely to severely disrupt Hezbollah’s internal communication as it scrambles to determine safe means to talk to each other. Hezbollah announced the death of five combatants Thursday, but didn’t specify if they were killed in the explosions or on the front lines.
The blasts went off wherever the holders of the pagers or walkie-talkies happened to be in multiple parts of Beirut and eastern and southern Lebanon — in homes and cars, grocery stores and cafes and on the street, even at a funeral for some killed in the bombings, often with family and other bystanders nearby.
Many suffered gaping wounds on their legs, abdomens and faces or were maimed in the hand. Tuesday’s pager blasts killed 12 people, including two children, and wounded some 2,300 others. The following day’s explosion killed 25 and wounded more than 600, Health Minister Firas Abiad said, giving updated figures.
Abiad told reporters that Wednesday’s injuries were more severe than the previous day as walkie-talkies that exploded were bigger than the pagers. He praised Lebanon’s hospitals, saying they had managed to deal with the flood of wounded within hours. “It was an indiscriminate attack. It was a war crime,” he said.
Israelis take cover next to a shelter as a siren sounds a warning of incoming rockets fired from Lebanon, in Nahariya, northern Israel, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner)
People watch the speech of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on a tv screen as they sit in a cafe in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Hezbollah members carry the coffin of their comrade who was killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded, during a funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A man mourns during the funeral procession of two Hezbollah members, killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A girl cries during the funeral procession of two Hezbollah members, killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded, in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Hezbollah members attend the funeral of two of their comrades who were killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded, during a funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Police tape cordons off the area as security members and an explosive specialist investigate a suspicious device in Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Hezbollah members carry the coffins of two of their comrades who were killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded, during a funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A boy cries during the funeral procession of two Hezbollah members in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A woman holds a picture of a Hezbollah member who was killed on Wednesday when a handheld device exploded, during his funeral procession in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Lebanese soldiers stand guard as their comrades prepare to detonate a walkie-talkie that was found at the parking of the American University Hospital, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
This video grab shows a walkie-talkie that was exploded inside a house, in Baalbek, east Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo)
Hezbollah fighters salute as they stand next to the coffins of four victims who were killed Tuesday after their handheld pagers exploded, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
Mourners carry the coffins of victims who were killed Tuesday after their handheld pagers exploded, during their funeral procession in the southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
