"I don't think anybody is going to catch them": McLaren backed to dominate the 2024 F1 season by $50M worth former champion

Former F1 world champion Mika Hakkinen recently claimed that McLaren is the best team in F1 at the moment and most of its rivals will not be able to catch them in the 2024 title battle. The British team has drastically closed the gap to Red Bull and is considered to be one of the fastest competitors on the track, on par with the defending world champions.

At the start of the 2024 F1 season, Red Bull continued to win races and dominate the season, but the Woking-based team soon closed the gap and caught up to the Austrian giants. The papaya team started winning races, with Lando Norris' first win coming in Miami, and Oscar Piastri's arriving in Hungary. Apart from that, the team became a regular on Grand Prix podiums, always putting pressure on reigning world champion Max Verstappen.

Right before and after the F1 summer break, it was evident that Red Bull experienced a dip in performance, while McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari took charge and won races. In terms of overall pace, the MCL38 is the fastest on the grid at the moment.

Speaking on the Unibet International YouTube channel, the $50M worth former F1 driver (as per Celebrity Net Worth) said that he was excited about how the rest of the 2024 F1 season would pan out. He hopes that McLaren dominates the season, but also questioned whether the team's rivals would bring strong upgrades to fight back.

“They are the best team out there, and this is the most exciting time, in my opinion, to see what's going to happen for the rest of the season. Are they going to just flat-out dominate? I hope they will. Or are there going to be some other teams upgrading their cars?” Hakkinen said.

The former McLaren driver feels that no other team would be able to catch the British outfit.

“I don't think so. I think McLaren has tools, and they have drivers, they have the designers, they have the management, they have the mega, fantastic partners financing this great, great team. So I don't think anybody is going to catch them,” he added.

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Mika Hakkinen praises McLaren for turning their fortunes around and bouncing back to the top

Mika Hakkinen also praised McLaren for improving as a team, bouncing back to the top of the grid, and winning races. Speaking on the Unibet International, he applauded the Woking-based team for understanding how to mold themselves to be able to win races.

He talked about the team motivating every department and understanding that it takes time to become successful in F1 once again.

“It's incredible to see that the team has a focus. The team has understanding ‘what do we need to get into position to win races?’ That has been mega work for the management of the team, to be able to motivate the drivers, to make the drivers understand, ‘yes, we will get there - just please, patience, please work hard',” Hakkinen praised.

“Including engineers, the mechanics, the designers, the marketing - to make them to believe, 'yes, we are gonna get there, it takes time'. It takes so many years, but now look where they are,” he added.

As of now, McLaren is second in the constructors' championship with 438 points. They are chasing defending world champions Red Bull who leads the table with 446 points.