‘Wouldn’t be surprised’ - McLaren boss Zak Brown makes huge Lewis Hamilton F1 2024 prediction

Hamilton has been stuck on seven world championships ever since his controversial defeat to Max Verstappen at the 2021 season finale in Abu Dhabi, with the Red Bull driver going on to dominate the following two campaigns. 

Despite Hamilton enduring back-to-back winless seasons amid a difficult spell for Mercedes, Brown believes the 39-year-old and his team could still come out on top in 2024. 

“We like what we’re seeing in the windtunnel and CFD at the moment, so we feel like we’re going to take a step forward,” Brown said of McLaren’s prospects for 2024, in an interview with Speedcafe. 

“How much? The great mystery on Red Bull is when did they turn off the development of their car to focus on next year [2024], and I think the answer is probably pretty early, so we’ll just have to wait and see how much Adrian Newey magic comes out of the oven so to speak to see where we are.

“And at the same time Mercedes or Ferrari, these teams have everything they need and are great teams and I wouldn’t be surprised if we were sitting here and all of a sudden Mercedes was back to Lewis winning his eighth championship.

“It’s very tough and competitive now. I don’t think you can rule anybody out.” 

Mid-season development enabled McLaren to complete an incredible turnaround during 2023 and emerge as Red Bull’s closest challengers at some races in the second half of the year. 

After starting the year with one of the slowest cars on the grid, McLaren managed to beat Aston Martin to fourth place in the constructors’ championship.