McLaren CEO Zak Brown has dismissed the idea that the team is the overall favourite to win the Formula 1 championship in 2025, despite its impressive recent performance.
The Woking-based outfit endured a turbulent period in recent years, including a near-collapse during the covid crisis in 2020.
"We were on the verge of bankruptcy," Brown told Auto Motor und Sport.
"If we hadn't received a cash injection from our shareholders in Bahrain and an external financial investor, things would not have continued.
But McLaren has been profitable since 2023," he added.
Fast forward to 2024, McLaren clinched the constructors' championship, although Lando Norris fell short in his pursuit of the drivers' title.
"It was within reach," Norris said during an interview for the World Economic Forum this week.
"This year I need to fix certain things, work on them and come back stronger, and that's what I'm ready for.
I think one thing we've realised as a team is that now that we're there, we need to make it easier for ourselves to win races. But last year I was close, and I had that feeling of, 'Ok, this is more or less what it is'."
Red Bull has identified McLaren and Ferrari as the frontrunners for 2025, acknowledging their consistently fast cars.
However, Brown downplayed those suggestions.
"It would be arrogant to think like that," the American said.
"For me, there are four teams that can win. And we are one of them."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella credited a key improvement in their wind tunnel and aero development capabilities for the team's 2024 success.
"When we were still in Cologne at Toyota," Stella explained, "we'd finish a new part and take two days to get it in the wind tunnel. Now we can test it in two hours."
One downside of being the reigning constructors' champion, however, is that McLaren will have the lowest allocation of wind tunnel time in 2025.
Stella remains confident despite the restriction.
"We are focusing on quality rather than quantity," he said. "We have increasingly strengthened our knowledge and introduced more efficient test procedures."
