McLaren boss Zak Brown has warned against unrealistically raised expectations concerning the team's prospects in 2022.
The team finished 2020 in third place in the constructors championship but lost out to Ferrari last season despite Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris achieving a breakthrough 1-2 victory in the Italian GP.
In both campaigns, McLaren was a long way behind Mercedes and Red Bull, and Brown is aware that there is still a long way to go before they are back contending for race wins and titles on a regular basis.
"It’s great we won our first race [in 2021]," Brown told the Gulf Business publication. "But we need to be careful not to raise expectations to an unrealistic level."
In that spirit, Brown was careful not to put a number on how many races the team was aiming to win this year for it to be seen as a successful continuation of their recent return to form after a disastrous partnership with Honda that was terminated in 2017.
“I don’t want to say our goal in 2022 is to win two, our goal is to continue to get closer to the front of the field," he insisted.
“Of course, we’re going to give it everything we’ve got. But we still have a couple of years of technical catch-up that we just can’t accelerate any further or faster than we are.
"We still have technical infrastructure that we’re catching up on, most notably our wind tunnel. I’m not going into [this] year thinking we’re going to be a championship contender.”
Brown was also happy with the team's current financial health as it extends operations into other fields of motorsport including a full-time presence in the US open wheel IndyCar Series.
However although it's signed up several big-name sponsors including Richard Mille, Dell Technologies and Coca-Cola, it still lacks a title sponsor heading into the 2022 season.
“We’re ahead of our business plan as far as where we want to be with our corporate partner portfolio to elegantly sell the car," said Brown. "You don’t want to turn [the car livery] into a patch of logos.
“Ultimately we have a big partner on the side and the rear wing," he pointed out. "So we’re not actively pursuing a title sponsor in our business plan and that is a conscious, deliberate decision that I made when we started.
“I’d rather not have all my eggs in one basket," he explained. "Our partners contribute a lot to our business growth and our brand. We’re not averse to having a title partner, but the way we’ve built our commercial proposition we don’t need one.”
Brown added that the financial status of all the teams in F1 was also looking good after the sport implemented a serious of rules and regulations changes including a budget cap to keep spending under control.
He stated that "the health of the teams has never been stronger", despite extra spending required this year to adapt to new chassis and aerodynamic specifications that could make the new season one of the most wide-open in years.
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