Zak Brown has explained how he feels McLaren benefit from competing in multiple categories of motorsport. As well as having raced in Formula 1 since 1966, the team have branched out into other series over the years and now take part in five championships in total. The McLaren name is seen in F1, IndyCar, Extreme E, Esports and Formula E, a category that the squad made their debut in at the 2022/23 season-opening Mexico City E-Prix. Brown believes that pursuing various series has been a positive for the company, though admits that the main focus when he arrived in 2016 was to move the Formula 1 team forwards. "There's a variety of benefits," Brown said in a McLaren interview when asked about the outfit contesting multiple championships. "The first remit was to get the Formula 1 team back on track, and we've had our first win in almost a decade and poles and podiums. "We're definitely not where we want to be, but I would say we're back on track and heading [in] the right direction."
McLaren's other racing pursuits
Brown feels that the other series McLaren take part in are all complementary to the operation. "Our corporate partners all have different goals and objectives," he explained. "If you look at Formula 1 being our centre of gravity, North America is hugely important, so we got involved in IndyCar racing because, however big Formula 1 gets in America – and it's getting very big – we wanted to have another layer on our cake. "[We race in] Extreme E, where we have our first female racing driver so, again, our corporate partners, our fans, our employees want to engage in our activities, [so] to have a real great platform around gender equality and sustainability is important to all of us. That's why we're in those two sports. "Esports is obviously the younger generation. Formula 1's clearly our centre of gravity, and so all these different racing series that we're participating in are to complement and round out the opportunities at McLaren Racing. "So if you're a fan, an employee, a corporate partner, you have many different avenues in which to engage with McLaren Racing."
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