In the round-up: McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says that its purchase of the Mercedes Formula E team will have commercial benefits for its other racing programmes
In brief
McLaren’s Formula E team will bring in more money for other programmes – Brown
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown says that its takeover of Mercedes EQ Formula E team will have commercial benefits for its other racing programmes.
McLaren announced yesterday it will purchase the Mercedes Formula E team and rebrand it as McLaren from the 2023 season, the first year for the series’ new ‘Gen3’ car. Asked if the purchase of a Formula E team to join its Formula 1, IndyCar and Extreme E programmes may be spreading McLaren’s resources too thin, Brown said he expects adding Formula E will have commercial benefits to the organisation.
“I think if I look at the Formula 1 team, the impact that Formula E will have on it I think makes McLaren Racing commercially that much more attractive,” Brown explained, “which will mean we’ll bring in more sponsor partners, whether that’s Formula E, IndyCar or Formula 1 – it all kind of ultimately goes into McLaren Racing and vice versa.”
Brown said Mercedes EQ team principal Ian James “has everything he needs to continue winning” after the rebranding. “But now he’s got the incremental bandwidth of McLaren Racing activities – whether that’s driver talent, team talent, commercial partnership – that will expand the fanbase. So they all feed off each other, but they’re all very much their own racing entities with their own leadership that are fully dedicated to the racing programme they’re on.”
“Stream” of upgrades for Alpine over coming rounds
Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer says that there will be a “stream” of upgrades for Alpine between the Spanish Grand Prix and the British Grand Prix in early July.
The team lies sixth in the constructors’ championship with 26 points, five behind Alfa Romeo. The y team introduced a new…