McLaren's Brown in major Hamilton claim: 'Wouldn't be surprised'

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has insisted he "wouldn't be surprised" ifLewis Hamilton was to win a record-breaking eighth F1 WorldChampionship in the upcoming season. Hamilton has been unable tochallenge for a victory since the end of the 2021 season, where henarrowly missed out on his eighth title to Max Verstappen in acontroversial end to the campaign, as Mercedes has struggled tofind consistent form under the sport's latest technical regulationset. Whilst Red Bull dominated proceedings last term by securingvictory in all but one of the races, the fluctuating pecking orderbetween Mercedes, Ferrari, Aston Martin and McLaren has left atantalising prospect for close action up front in the new season.Speaking to the Speedcafe KTM Summer Grill , Brown suggested thetitle battle could be wide open. Red Bull's 'great mystery' “Welike what we’re seeing in the wind tunnel and CFD at the moment, sowe feel like we’re going to take a step forward,” said Brown. “Howmuch? The great mystery on Red Bull is when did they turn off thedevelopment of their car to focus on this year [2024], and I thinkthe answer is probably pretty early, so we’ll just have to wait andsee how much Adrian Newey magic comes out of the oven to see wherewe are. “At the same time, Mercedes or Ferrari - these teams haveeverything they need and are great teams and I wouldn’t besurprised if we were sitting here and all of a sudden Mercedes wasback and Lewis winning his eighth championship. “It’s very toughand competitive now. I don’t think you can rule anybody out.”