McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has been rewarded for recent progress within the team with a contract extension that will keep him in his role until at least 2030. Brown joined McLaren in late 2016, going on to become CEO of McLaren Racing in 2018, a …
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has been rewarded for recent progress within the team with a contract extension that will keep him in his role until at least 2030.
Brown joined McLaren in late 2016, going on to become CEO of McLaren Racing in 2018, a position he has held ever since. The Californian is regularly the team’s spokesperson but has also overseen multiple changes in the wider racing operation, entering and winning races in the likes of IndyCar and Formula E.
The Formula 1 team has also made significant strides in recent seasons, with a major turnaround in form after an overhaul of the technical team seeing McLaren finish fourth in the constructors’ championship last year and end the season regularly fighting to be the second-quickest team.
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“I am thrilled to continue leading McLaren Racing and to be a part of such a historic race team,” Brown said “It is a privilege to work alongside the talented men and women across McLaren Racing’s different race series. Together, we will continue to push the boundaries of motorsport and strive for the highest performance on and off the track.”
The decision to extend Brown’s contract comes with the support of McLaren Group executive chairman Paul Walsh, who says Brown’s been central to the team picking up regular podiums in the latter part of last season.
“Zak has demonstrated exceptional leadership qualities and has been instrumental in driving McLaren Racing forward,” Walsh said. “His extension reflects our confidence in his ability to lead the team to even greater success in the years to come.”
Brown installed Andrea Stella as team principal of McLaren in Formula 1 last year, then being able to secure Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris on longer-terms deals over the past seven months.
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says Susie Wolff deserves greater transparency from the FIA regarding its investigation of interference in allegations of potential conflict of interest, but multiple team bosses insist they have confidence in the …
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says Susie Wolff deserves greater transparency from the FIA regarding its investigation of interference in allegations of potential conflict of interest, but multiple team bosses insist they have confidence in the governing body.
Wolff has launched legal action against the FIA in French courts, following statements relating to a potential conflict of interest investigation involving the F1 Academy managing director and her husband Toto Wolff in December last year.
With the FIA’s Ethics Committee having cleared Mohammed Ben Sulayem of any wrongdoing relating to interference allegations, and a grievance against Red Bull team principal Christian Horner dismissed — both following independent investigations initiated by their parent companies — Brown says calls for transparency have a different meaning depending on each topic.
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“The different situations are all different, so I don’t think there’s kind of a one-size-fits-all,” Brown said. “I think we just need to have confidence that the FIA, there’s various statutes as far as how we conduct ourselves, that they’re looking to matters when there’s a whistleblower situation or someone brings forward an issue.
“There are certain things that we can be aware of and not aware of from a confidentiality standpoint, but are things being looked into? Are all sides being heard equally? And then when conclusions are brought forward, what was the process and the conclusion?
“I don’t think, given confidentiality, and these various natures, that we’re necessarily entitled to know all the details. I just think we need to have the confidence that when someone brings forward an issue that we know it’s been looked into independently, [that] all parties have been heard. And I think we should all welcome that. So if someone’s involved in a situation, they should welcome transparency and welcome the FIA looking into the situation from all parties.
“In Susie’s case, she’s one of the most respected people in motorsport and from the limited information I have think, that isn’t quite aware of what she was being looked into and then why she wasn’t being looked into. So I think really the transparency is as much for her.
“And then, we have had conclusion on the FIA race-related issues. I think we have a general sense of what the issue was, and they said there wasn’t an issue. Then in the other instance [involving Red Bull] we’ve kind of heard from one side. It looks like the other side is appealing, and just to have confidence that she’s been heard and that the FIA’s looked into it and is happy with the conclusion.”
Brown stated a summary report being provided would be helpful to understand certain matters, with Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur adding that it’s tough for many to comment given their limited knowledge of the situations involved.
“I don’t think that we have another option than to be confident,” Vasseur said. “We don’t know who is a whistleblower. We don’t know what was the cause of the whistleblower. And don’t ask us to have an opinion at the end. Either we have an opinion on the global system or not, but on this case, it’s quite impossible for us. I’m probably too naive, but we have to be confident with the system.”
With Stake Sauber team representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi saying “we have full confidence in the FIA and all the processes that are in place,” Peter Bayer — who was the FIA’s secretary general before joining RB as CEO last year — explained some of the structure within the governing body.
“We have to have confidence in the organization,” Bayer said. “It’s the same when we have a steward’s decision or others sometimes. We might not like the decisions, but ultimately, we have to be happy with the process.
“From my time at the FIA, it is an independent body, which is led by the Ethics Committee President, Francois Bellanger, and they have their independent findings. And as the president himself was concerned, they were the ones who had to ultimately deal with the matter. So again, I think we need to have confidence. And they came out with a statement.
“I guess another question we have to ask ourselves is, what is actually the remit of the FIA? They are the regulator and legislator of motorsport. So some questions we might want them to answer, probably they cannot answer, while others, clearly, they have to answer. So the ones they have to answer, like a president potentially interfering into a stewards’ decision, that is very, very important for us to have confidence and to trust them. And yes, we do.”
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says that the Middle East should now be considered in the same group as the likes of the U.S and the UK when it comes to motorsport powerhouse regions following two decades of rapid expansion. Brown pointed to his own …
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says that the Middle East should now be considered in the same group as the likes of the U.S and the UK when it comes to motorsport powerhouse regions following two decades of rapid expansion.
Brown pointed to his own team’s Bahrain ownership and importance of the region for partners and sponsors for legitimizing its importance for the motorsport industry as a whole.
“On the Formula 1 schedule, we’ve got four grands prix in the region, and then when I talk to business leader and our partners, they talk about how important the region is to them,” Brown said. “I think it’s great that it all kind of started in Bahrain, which of course is the owner of McLaren Racing, with the first grand prix in the region and the first racing team in the region, so I think we’re already a very important market for the fans, the racing teams, for the sport, and for our sponsors.”
A key player at the moment is Saudi Arabia, which as well as hosting the second and third rounds of the Formula E season, the Dakar Rally at the start of this year, the inaugural E1 electric powerboat race, this week’s Extreme E opener and a Formula 1 grand prix all in the space of nine weeks. But His Royal Highness Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Al Abdullah Al Faisal, president of the Saudi Arabia automobile and motorcycle federation reiterated previous comments that the country isn’t just about hosting events, and wants to increase its motorsport presence further in the coming years.
“A lot of things are happening in Saudi, and there are a lot of things that we’ve done,” he said. “I don’t think there’s a place in the world that hosts all these events, and still we haven’t finished our infrastructure.
“When (a planned purpose-built motorsport facility in) Qiddiya opens, that’s going to take us to a different level. And all the plans that we have for the grassroots that will transform our participation in motorsports — the potential in Saudi Arabia is very big.
“We’re halfway; we’ve achieved a lot of things in terms of hosting events so now we need to discover and give the new generation the platform so they can shine and rise and succeed and also take us to the next level. We have lots of boys and girls in Saudi that are very ambitious, very committed, and very talented and by hosting Formula E and other events, they’ve been inspired.”
Major class restructuring in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the World Endurance Championship created the perfect storm for growth in IMSA’s LMP2 class, which is going from seven full-season entries to 11 for 2024. It also …
Major class restructuring in both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the World Endurance Championship created the perfect storm for growth in IMSA’s LMP2 class, which is going from seven full-season entries to 11 for 2024. It also created the perfect opportunity for Richard Dean and Zak Brown’s United Autosports team to seek its next challenge.
United Autosports USA will field two ORECA 07 Gibsons in the LMP2 class in the WeatherTech Championship, the only two-car team in the class. Reigning LMP2 champ Ben Keating will partner with Ben Hanley in the No.2 (Nico Pino serving as the third driver for Michelin Endurance Cup races), while Dan Goldburg and Paul Di Resta will drive the No.22, joined by Bijoy Garg for the endurance races.
Being a European-based team, there was much work to do to launch a full-season effort in the WeatherTech Championship. Enter Billy Glavin and the Jr III racing shop. The Mooresville, N.C. shop proved the perfect base for United, and with Glavin winding down Jr III’s long and successful LMP3 program, he was available to run the operation as general manager.
“It’s a big commitment for a European team to come in and take on a full season,” said Dean, co-owner and CEO of United Autosports, “so you need a push to do it. And LMP2 coming out of WEC was just exactly what we needed. We just needed that reason, that push over the line. We’ve been talking about this for a while, so let’s go and try to do it properly. Let’s not just try and commute in and out.
“That’s why we’ve partnered with Billy Glavin at Jr. III. His situation, being in LMP3 that’s coming out of WeatherTech, and us coming in, our situation sort of emerged perfectly to give us what we needed — quality people and a base in Charlotte. It’s a shortcut for us to set up a workshop here. I took one look around his place and I spent a day with him and it was a ready-made step into into the U.S. with a permanent base.”
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United Autosports has competed at Daytona, and Dean’s father raced there, but this will be the first full-season effort from the team. United has competed in WEC, European Le Mans Series, Asian Le Mans Series and elsewhere, and will continue racing LMP2 in ELMS as well as starting a new LMGT3 program in WEC with McLaren. But IMSA has been a big pull all along.
“IMSA has just got this sort of electric atmosphere around the racing. And everybody loves it, everybody from those sat in the grandstands to in the pit lane, the media people, the mechanics … everybody gets excited and invigorated,” Dean said. “So when we have our planning meetings, people are pushing, ‘Can we do more IMSA races?’ So we’re always pulled towards it. For us, having taken on and won in European Le Mans and the World Endurance Championship and Le Mans, the thing we haven’t done is we haven’t won here in IMSA. We’ve done Sebring, we’ve done Daytona, but we haven’t won here. So I’m not saying we’re going to come here and win, but it’s our ambition to have a go at it.”
United Autosports is well stocked with talent in and out of the cockpits of its two ORECA entries. Motorsport Images
They are having a go with an impressive driver lineup. Keating is a two-time IMSA champ, a two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans class winner, the defending WeatherTech Championship LMP2 title holder and the 2023 WEC champion in GTE-Am. Hanley is an Asian Le Mans champion and won the 2023 Michelin Endurance Cup in LMP2. Di Resta is a Le Mans winner in LMP2. Goldburg is a rookie in LMP2 and the WeatherTech Championship, but has proven his chops in VP Racing SportsCar Challenge LMP3.
“To win a race, you’ve got to have the best car, the best team, the best people and the best drivers. So it’s down to us now because [Keating’s] a race winner,” said Dean. “He knows what he wants and the discussions I’ve had with him since we started talking about it and since we shook hands… he’s already driving the team as well and adding his experience to it, so it’s massively important. Dan Goldburg, the bronze in the other car, also knows his way around the tracks and he knows his way around the IMSA paddock.”
“I like to think that we’ve really copied a Hypercar factory structure and we’re applying it in a smaller fashion in LMP2,” says Richard Dean. JEP/Motorsport Images
So United Autosports comes to the WeatherTech Championship with a winning record, a great driver lineup and, with Glavin on board, a structure in place to facilitate it all. But there has to be some secret to the team’s success beyond Dean’s and Brown’s experience. While the team has had some great drivers such as Filipe Albuquerque, Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis and Alex Lynn in its ranks, that doesn’t guarantee success. So what’s the recipe?
“There’s a common theme, I suppose, that says employ the best people you can, let them do the job, don’t interfere with them. That’s really what we’ve tried to do,” Dean said of the team’s general philosophy. “We hired a new technical director two years ago — Jakob Andreasen, who came from Toyota’s Hypercar program — with a view to improving not just technically; there’s a lot of detail around getting the best out of an ORECA, because everybody’s got access to the same car, tires, engine equipment. So the details are important.
“But you know, there are a couple of people — Jakob coming from Toyota is one of them — that understand the structure and organizational charts of how a team can operate. With the size that we are, as we’ve been growing, you don’t want to lose control of that. So you need a structure and you need an organizational chart within your staff, and reportability and accountability. I think probably we are slightly different to most teams at this level, because I like to think that we’ve really copied a Hypercar factory structure and we’re applying it in a smaller fashion in LMP2.”
Dean and his squad will have their first shot at showing that the recipe works when the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the opening round of the 2024 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, takes place Jan. 23-26.
McLaren’s driver line-up of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are both capable of delivering a world championship as the team gets closer to the standards it needs, according to Zak Brown. Daniel Ricciardo was released one year before the end of his …
McLaren’s driver line-up of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are both capable of delivering a world championship as the team gets closer to the standards it needs, according to Zak Brown.
Daniel Ricciardo was released one year before the end of his contract after two tough years at McLaren, with rookie Piastri signed as his replacement after Alpine failed to secure his future. While Brown says he retains a good relationship with Ricciardo – who has since returned to a race seat with the team most recently known as AlphaTauri – he sees the drivers as the most recent area that has been proven to be clicking as McLaren moves closer to the front.
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“I’m very happy Daniel is back in Formula 1,” Brown said. “Daniel has always been great to work with, he’s always been a great friend. It was never a divorce that made anybody happy. So I’m very happy he’s on the grid. We still exchange notes on a somewhat regular basis, so I’m very happy that we’ve ended up maintaining a good relationship.
“And then of course very happy that Oscar has performed in the way he has, and we’ve got visibility to what our driver line-up looks like for the foreseeable future with a very experienced 24-year-old and an awesome rookie at 22.
“That’s a pretty awesome driver line-up as we look at what we need to get back to winning world championships, it starts with two drivers that are capable of winning the world championship. I think we’ve got that.”
Brown says the way other aspects are working so well highlight the potential within McLaren, with team principal Andrea Stella monitoring how close it is to being ready to fight of titles.
“I think we have the team. I think we now have the resources and the technology, and now we just need to continue to push forward and the culture.
“The pit stops are great. I think that illustrates how well the team is working together. So we’ve just got to kind of get that pit stop culture in every single part of the racing team. I think we’re there.
“Andrea has this kind of world championship material terminology that he uses, and this pie chart. It started at half green, quarter amber, quarter red. And the green is 75%, and the amber and the red is reduced, and I think we just need a little bit more time to get it to be all green.”
Last week McLaren gave seat time to IndyCar race winner Pato O’Ward and 2022 Le Mans 24 Hour winner Ryo Hirakawa at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as part of its Testing Of Previous Cars program, but while the team was out in Spain, team principal …
Last week McLaren gave seat time to IndyCar race winner Pato O’Ward and 2022 Le Mans 24 Hour winner Ryo Hirakawa at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as part of its Testing Of Previous Cars program, but while the team was out in Spain, team principal Zak Brown also hit the track.
Separate from the team’s official driver development activities, Brown swapped the pit wall for the pit lane, and got behind the wheel of an ex-Daniel Ricciardo MCL35M for a handful of laps.
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The car that took Ricciardo to victory in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix – McLaren’s most recent F1 race win, and Brown’s first at the helm of the team – was central to a bet between the pair, with Ricciardo getting a run out in an ex-Ricky Rudd and Dale Earnhardt Chevrolet Monte Carlo owned by Brown, and Brown getting a Monza-themed tattoo in return as a result of the win.
Brown has since taken personal ownership of the car, and it has recently undergone a full rebuild, with him describing his recent outing in it as a “quick shakedown”.
With Brown taking over stewardship of the car, it joins an extensive collection of race winning F1 machines in his personal collection, including Ayrton Senna’s 1991 Monaco Grand Prix-winning MP4/6, Mika Hakkinen’s British Grand Prix-winning MP4-16, and Lewis Hamilton’s 2012 MP4-27 that won the Italian and United States Grands Prix.
Aside from McLarens, Brown owns several Williams, including Alan Jones’ Williams FW07B which he’s raced at Laguna Seca and Long Beach in recent years, and Jody Scheckter’s 1977 Argentine Grand Prix-winning Wolf WR1, the only car besides the Brawn BGP001 to win on its debut.
The Mercedes W04 with which Lewis Hamilton won his first race for Mercedes in Hungary in 2013 was also previously in Brown’s collection, having been acquired before he took his is role at McLaren. The car, which is one of the few modern Mercedes F1 cars outside the team’s ownership, will be auctioned by RM Sotheby’s on November 17 ahead of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, where the auction house anticipates it fetching between $10-15 million.
Ride with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown in the 1970 McLaren M8D raced by the late Dan Gurney, as Brown competes at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion on August 19, 2023. Or click HERE to watch on YouTube.
Ride with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown in the 1970 McLaren M8D raced by the late Dan Gurney, as Brown competes at the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion on August 19, 2023.
The McLaren boss didn’t mince words about Sergio Perez when it came to his compliments of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
The 2023 Formula 1 season has been utterly dominated by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. As a result, lots of discussion has flared around the performance of his teammate [autotag]Sergio Perez[/autotag], who is currently 125 points back from Verstappen in the same car — and McLaren CEO [autotag]Zak Brown[/autotag], whether intentionally or not, seemed to add some fuel to that fire.
Speaking to ESPN’s Nate Saunders, Brown explained that the current F1 season aside from Verstappen has still had some excitement across the year. In explaining so, Perez seemed to catch some strays:
“As much as Red Bull’s killing everyone right now… it’s really Max is killing everyone right now. That Max, Red Bull combination is just unbeatable at the moment and Max and the team isn’t making any mistakes. If they had two Sergios in the car, with all due respect, this championship would kind of be wide open. So you’ve got something pretty special going on with Max and Red Bull.”
Brown is right about one thing — the pair of Verstappen and his car this season has been nothing short of unprecedented. Not only has Verstappen been excellent, but his car has yet to DNF during a race across the entire season. That winning combo has allowed Verstappen to win 10 of 12 possible races so far in 2023.
Perez, meanwhile, has been eliminated in Q3 three times in 2023 and is currently only 40 points clear of third-place Fernando Alonso. His performance this year has drawn some criticism from fans and pundits alike, so his form after the summer break will be important to note.
RACER’s Marshall Pruett takes us through the latest silly season developments with Alex Palou. Or click HERE to watch on YouTube. Presented by: RACER’s IndyCar Trackside Report at the Gallagher Grand Prix is presented by Skip Barber Racing School. …
RACER’s Marshall Pruett takes us through the latest silly season developments with Alex Palou.
RACER’s IndyCar Trackside Report at the Gallagher Grand Prix is presented by Skip Barber Racing School. With multiple locations in the US, Skip Barber Racing School has developed more winning racers than any other school. Their alumni have taken the podium in all facets of motorsports including NASCAR, INDYCAR, SCCA, World Challenge and IMSA. Click to learn more.
IndyCar leader Alex Palou has seemingly once again attempted to back out of a contract agreement.
Current IndyCar frontrunner [autotag]Alex Palou[/autotag] caused quite a stir in 2023 when he attempted to leave Chip Ganassi Racing by breaking his contract and going to Arrow McLaren. And now, in 2023, it seems as if he may be going back on another contract.
According to the AP’s Jenna Fryer, Palou told McLaren CEO Zak Brown that he doesn’t plan on driving for Arrow McLaren in 2024 in the IndyCar championship. While many may speculate that this means Palou may have an F1 seat lined up for the next season, he told reporters during practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that he didn’t have any such agreements.
Both Brown and Palou’s management who helped foster his deal to McLaren last year, Monaco Increase Management, expressed disappointment in Palou’s decision. Here is what Brown said about Palou’s decision:
“This is incredibly disappointing considering the commitment he has made to us both directly and publicly and our significant investment in him based on that commitment.”
Whether or not Palou intends to continue with Chip Ganassi Racing next year is unknown, but the team itself put out a statement on Saturday asserting that Palou “remains under contract with [Chip Ganassi Racing].”
As it stands, Palou is the currently leader in IndyCar by 84 points. He is currently lined up to test McLaren’s F1 car during practice this year, but whether or not that occurs now that he has seemingly reneged on his deal with the team remains to be seen.
