“Losing a ton of money,” Zak Brown recalls McLaren’s ‘pretty scary’ situation when he took the reigns in 2016

Zak Brown has been one of the key people responsible for McLaren's revival in F1.

“Losing a ton of money,” Zak Brown recalls McLaren’s ‘pretty scary’ situation when he took the reigns in 2016

Zak Brown (via IMAGO)

McLaren has been a staple in F1 since its debut in 1966. The Woking-based outfit has had immense success till the 90s. However, their status in the pecking order soon dropped with the onset of the 2000 millennial, and were only able to win one driver’s championship before the team plummeted down the field. The team’s CEO recalls his time at McLaren when the team was a backmarker and how it was a scary mess.

Since the beginning of the 2010s, McLaren was at the sharp end of the field with two brilliant drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button. This pair won multiple races and came close to winning a championship. With the team’s morale high, they decided to bet on the 2013 season as they changed the philosophical design of the car which turned out to be horrendous. This led to the start of the team’s downfall as they ditched Mercedes powertrains in favor of Renault.

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However, the subsequent seasons were filled with drivers being upset as Fernando Alonso used to criticize the cars in iconic radio moments.

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It was worse than I thought it was. We were ninth in the championship. We had blank race cars, I think three sponsors. We had upset fans, upset racing drivers and we had a pretty down and out racing team. It was pretty scary. The team needed resources – because we were losing a ton of money – to be able to invest in drivers and technology and people.
Zak Brown said in an interview with BBC

When Zak Brown took up the office of McLaren in 2016, the team had a terrible reputation in the paddock. Its fans, drivers, and staff were discontented with their progress. This led immense burden on the American, who admitted the team was in misery as they kept burning through the cash to keep the team running.

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On the contrary, since the 2019 season, McLaren has been climbing up the F1 ladder and becoming a midfield team again. This helped them gain sponsorships and build a team of engineers to aid their technical growth. During this, former team principal Andreas Seidl announced his departure causing a violent shake-up within the team.

Zak Brown and Andrea Stella
Zak Brown(L) and Andrea Stella(R), images via IMAGO

Brown revealed how Andrea Stella was able to take the German’s role and help the team accelerate forward.

Felt like it was stalled out. Put Andrea[Stella] in charge. He does a little bit of reorganising - a little bit more than a little - does tremendous work, rallies the team, and we've been on fire ever since. But we'll hit some speed bumps along the way.
Zak Brown said in an interview with BBC

The 52-year-old admitted that he reckoned that the team’s progress had stalled out. However, with Stella’s arrival and reorganization, they have found themselves in a better position than before.

Thus, with a myriad of improvements during the last decade, McLaren now finds themselves in a title fight with Red Bull. Moreover, it would be their first constructor’s title since 1998, making other factors play a vital role in the accomplishment of their dreams.

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