It’s fitting that Penguin Publishing Group released Zak Brown’s Seven Tenths of a Second this week, just before the F1 2025 Las Vegas Grand Prix. Brown is the CEO of McLaren Racing, whose Formula 1 team may wrap up the 2025 F1 World Drivers Championship in Vegas this weekend. Brown’s autobiographical book is packed with life lessons, personal growth insights, and the management principles he relies on as he leads the team. The book is also a great introduction to the last three races of this F1 season. If someone dropped in from Mars and read Brown’s book before the race this weekend, they wouldn’t know everything about Formula 1, but they’d understand how McLaren is on plan.
McLaren’s handling of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, its two high-scoring drivers, jas often provoked questions from rival team leaders and from commentators, but Seven Tenths of a Second makes it clear that, under Brown’s mentorship, the team is sticking to his plan. Looking at the results the 2024 and 2025 seasons, Brown’s plan is paying off. In essence, Brown’s philosophy is: let racers race.
Zak Brown identifies as a racer
Brown likes to say, “Let’s go racing.” He and F1 Team Principal Andrea Stella stick to that mentality. Stella is one of many McLaren team members Brown appointed and wholly backs. Earlier in his career, Brown was a race car driver, and now he finds even greater success as a racing team leader.
McLaren already has a lock on the 2025 Constructors Championship, far outscoring the other top F1 teams. McLaren also won the Constructors crown in 2024. The book’s title stems from the 2024 season Championship, when a fast pit stop in the season finale contributed to the win. This year, McLaren’s 756 team points make its leadership unassailable; second-place Mercedes has 398 points.
Zak Brown lets his racing drivers race
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, McLaren’s Formula 1 drivers, are the front-runners for the Drivers Championship. Norris leads with 390 points, followed by Piastri at 366 and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen at 341. It’s mathematically possible for any of the three to win, though the odds before this weekend’s LVGP favor Norris. After Las Vegas, there are just two races left on the 2025 F1 calendar. Norris could wrap it up this weekend. Piastri would need to prevail with big point margins for two races to get the crown, and Verstappen would have to score maximum points for all three races to emerge the season’s winner. Stay tuned, because all three drivers are capable of such performances.
Zak Brown speaks often, both in and out of the book, about having two Grand Prix-winning drivers on the same team and why McLaren thrives with that arrangement, preferring two equal stars instead of the senior–junior hierarchy most F1 teams use. As recently as two weeks ago, Brown made headlines when he stated he would prefer Max Verstappen win the title over picking a favorite between Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
