Zak Brown has explained his approach to putting a "reset" in place at McLaren after taking over as CEO in 2018. The American joined the company in 2016 as an executive director before moving to his latter role as part of an operational restructuring. While Brown feels that the squad already had a strong work ethic, he felt it was important to bring his own approach to moving things forwards whilst still honouring the team's past. "I think the work ethic has always been fantastic," Brown said in a McLaren interview. "I think we needed a little bit of a reset. That started with going to our beautiful historic papaya [colour scheme]. You look back on the results that McLaren has – unbelievable. "[It is the] second most successful Formula 1 team of all time, the only racing team to win the Triple Crown [of] Monaco, Indianapolis 500 and Le Mans, so I look back and I'm very proud of our history. "But things move on and leaders have different styles."
Brown outlines leadership approach
In terms of his own leadership style, Brown explained: "Mine's very much 'work hard, play hard', but the play being the the racing part, because we are kind of big kids racing big racing cars. "I think [I try to] bring a lot of passion, a lot of fun but, at the same time, a lot of seriousness and a real desire to win everywhere – on the track [and] off the track – and hopefully that's what's coming through." When asked what he stands for, Brown puts racing and business at the forefront. "Racing – I absolutely love racing. Business – I've run companies my whole life, having started my own company in and around motor racing, so [standing for] the business of racing," he added. "I love my job. I love showing up here every day, so I hope that rubs off on everyone, that this is a great place to come work."
Most read
