McLaren is famous for its legendary Formula 1 team, but now under boss Zak Brown the focus is to go beyond that, namely to become the best race team in the world, hence their rapid expansion into other series.
While most F1 teams tend to focus their works programme on the top flight, with support involvement in other series, McLaren have been bullish of late, reopening their Indycar involvement after decades of absence, putting a team into the Extreme E series and now taking over the Mercedes operation in Formula E.
Including their GT3 programmes and a possible Hypercar project for the near future, the McLaren brand is indeed making waves beyond F1.
No surprise there because, Brown is a marketing man through and through, he knows the value of the sport thanks to decades of being a low-key but influential ‘player’ in the paddock until his high profile appointment to McLaren, arguably the second hottest seat in F1 only behind the Ferrari furnace, in terms of pressure to deliver.
Speaking to Road & Track, Brown was enthusiastic about the current state of F1 and what the future holds: “I’ve never seen Formula 1 so hot, ever. I’ve been running McLaren for six years, but I’ve been around the sport for 25. That’s a fact, not opinion.
“TV ratings are up; record number of grands prix; more people want more grands prix than we can put out; teams want to enter the sport, new manufacturers on the doorstep: Porsche, Audi; Digital numbers are through the roof. Corporate partnerships with the biggest brands in the world are on fire, brands that have historically not been in this sport: Google, Goldman Sachs, Cisco, Dell, and Coca-Cola. All the races are sold out. The sport is on fire.”
Brown: F1 is on fire and it’s only going to get stronger
“The racing’s going to get closer because of the cost cap,” predicted Brown. “The 10 teams have never been healthier, and they’re owned by people and groups now that can afford to be in F1.”
Inevitably this brings up the contentious subject of the F1 Cost Cap, a debate that currently hogs headlines, but Brown is an avid supporter of the concept aimed at levelling the F1 playing field.
The McLaren CEO continued: “I think we’re going to see better racing, too, because this is just the first year of the new regulations. What happens is, as the rules stabilize, everyone catches up. In the last 20 years, you’ve had two teams always fighting for the championship.
“In the last 10 years, it’s almost been one team with two teammates fighting for the championship. I think when the racing is more competitive, that’s going to increase spectators, which means more media, which means more sponsors, which means more countries are going to want races. It’s just going to keep building this great momentum.
“So, it’s the budget cap and all that Liberty has done to fix the economic structure of the sport. And we’ve just done a new TV contract in America [with ESPN] that’s up twentyfold.”
With increased exposure comes a rise in interest from corporates seeking a global platform to promote their products and do business at the highest level as demand for VIP and Paddock Club access, from heavy hitters in business is well known, they flock to races such as Monaco, Miami, Silverstone and the like.
No surprise then that Brown revealed demand from sponsors is at an all-time high for his team: “You have three revenue streams: You’ve got the money you get from F1, you get money from your sponsors, and then licensing and digital, etc. A little more than half of our revenue is from our corporate partners, and it’s grown fivefold since 2016.”
Expansion into other series has unique benefits for McLaren partners
Brown explained that involvement in other series, rather than focusing only on F1, is a strategy to provide team partners the widest platform possible for exposure: “That’s one of the primary reasons we’ve acquired a Formula E team from Mercedes.
“We were the first, and at this point only, [F1 team] in Extreme E. We’re the only F1 team that has an IndyCar team. Our logic there is, no matter how big Formula 1 gets in North America, we want to have the biggest North American platform because of the importance of that market to the majority of our corporate partners and fans.
“When I look at our racing portfolio, Formula 1 is our center of gravity, but IndyCar then allows us to dial up North America, and Formula E and Extreme E allow us to shine a light on our partners’ commitment to sustainability.
“They’re all very complimentary to trying to create the most exciting racing team in the world,” declared Brown.
McLaren are the second most successful F1 team in terms of victories, only better by Ferrari. The team was started by New Zealander Bruce McLaren, with him at the wheel for the 1966 Monaco Grand Prix in a car he himself built, engineered, serviced, transported and of course, drove.
Since then, there have been several leadership changes over the years including McLaren’s golden era during Ron Dennis’ long reign, which concluded in acrimony towards the end of 2016. Brown took over the role shortly after that.
Since Bruce’s debut in Monte-Carlo, 56-years-ago, The Woking outfit have won eight F1 constructors titles, 12 F1 drivers’ titles while McLaren drivers have celebrated on the on Grand Prix podiums 494 times, 183 of those occasions as winners.
Notably, since 2017 when Brown was appointed executive director of McLaren Technology Group, first full season in charge, the team only won once when Daniel Ricciardo triumphed at Monza last year, the team’s first F1 victory since 2012, thus ending their longest barren spell ever.