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F1 in 2017: Assessing McLaren's prospects with Zak Brown

Zak Brown on 2017 hopes, sponsor search, and shareholder tension

Formula 1's new rules era coincides with what once all-conquering McLaren hope will be their own fresh start in 2017 after four seasons without a race victory.

Following an end to last year overshadowed by boardroom fallouts and the departure of Ron Dennis from a management role, American businessman and self-confessed McLaren fan Zak Brown represents the new face of the Woking team and has set the target of winning world titles again in future years.

Amid promises of a redesigned engine for Honda for the new season, McLaren's newly-installed executive director spoke to Sky Sports News HQ just before Christmas about his 2017 hopes, early search for new sponsors, and the nature of his late-2016 arrival at Woking.

What hope can you offer McLaren fans for 2017?

ZB: "Everyone is very excited. I've been walked through the car in detail, and now seen all the reports from the 2016 car and where they have found areas of improvement, so everyone is feeling very bullish.

"The last couple of years have been difficult, but [in 2016] they had a good race car. Honda is putting out some good power and if we can make the same leap that we made from 2015 to 2016, to '16 to 2017, we are well on our way."

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What was your key message in your first factory address in December?

ZB: "It was very exciting for me to look up and to see this sea of people who in my opinion are the best in the business.

"A lot of them I know being a racer and having raced McLarens. I've got my Mika Hakkinen car, so there were a lot of familiar faces to me. My message I hope they took away is, one, I'm a massive McLaren fan so I'm very honoured to be there, I feel it's a great privilege to be one of them.

Image: Zak Brown (right) chats with racing director Eric Boullier on his first appearance for McLaren in Abu Dhabi

"I'm a racer, as while I'm most known for my commercial acumen, I've spent 25 years behind the wheel and there's a kind of 'racer code' that happens on the shop floor.

"They know the business side needs to happen, but everyone on the shop floor just wants to go racing and that's kind of how I am too. So I wanted those who didn't know me to understand what I'm passionate about. I'm certainly passionate about the business of motorsport, but no one likes to spray some champagne as much as I do.

"I live here [in the UK] and I've chosen to live here. I love England. I love Europe. This is where I picked up my family. I haven't moved here for this job, I lived in England in the early 90s and moved back three or four years ago and the family loves it. So I let them know I'm a little bit of a local boy now!"

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You've said you want a title sponsor by 2018. Has that area of business changed? Can you still get the same level of revenue as five years ago? Is McLaren going to have to be flexible and perhaps performance-related in the deal it strikes?

ZB: "Everybody is going to have to. The rate card for Formula 1 has come down some, and I think that's a good thing at the end of the day. Now what we need to do is bring down Formula 1 expenses.

"It's okay if the top line goes down as long as the bottom line also goes down at the same time so you sustain your profitability or, in the case of lots of Formula 1 companies, reduce your losses.

"So I think the new way in sponsorship, not just with McLaren and not even just for Formula 1, but for all sports, is certainly a performance element.

"These companies need kind of guaranteed value and if you buy into sport you win some, you lose some so you have to accept you have good years and bad years. So there is a performance element, and then also making sure things are measurable and being flexible.

"Companies now more than ever are acting on a quarter-by-quarter basis as they get more sophisticated in their measurement evaluation and so, as a good partner, we need to adapt and be as flexible as we possibly can while staying true to the business rules we have."

Are you already in talks with companies that might become McLaren's future title sponsor?

ZB: "I hope so! I'm in talks with lots of people.

"2017 is not realistic, but 2018 is not far away by any stretch, so we're going to focus on big companies, big brands, like-minded companies and we certainly have some great conversations, but early conversations."

Were you expecting to work under Ron Dennis?

ZB: "Ron and I have known each other, and I've known McLaren, for over a decade now.

"The relationship got started around two sponsors we brought in, Johnnie Walker and Hilton, who are both still with the team. We built a very good relationship over the years and Ron had always left the door open, certainly in more recent years, to come and join and I always had an obligation to JMI and CSM, which I sold in 2013.

"As I was nearing the end of my agreement, I let Ron know and then those conversations went from pat on the back 'why don't you come and join?' to paper and offers in front of me. That started in the early part of [2016] because I directionally knew that I wanted to get back into motorsports full-time.

"So ultimately Ron pursued me and it would have been working alongside him, under him. He then put me forward to the other shareholders and fortunately for me all three were unanimous in their support of it being a good idea for me to join the team. A lot of what I'm doing now, Ron asked me to do, so my job's not a whole lot different."

Did you in any way feel awkward or in a difficult situation when he indicated those roles would be relinquished?

ZB: "It's a little awkward for me if I'm being brutally honest. I have a tremendous amount of respect for all three shareholders. I've got great relationships with all three shareholders. I'm proud to work for all three shareholders, so when they're not getting along that's not comfortable all the time because you want to make them all happy.

"I figured the best way for me to do that is get my head down helping the team get back to being world champions, because while they may be having disagreements amongst them, they all agree that we need to win world championships.

"So I'm going to keep my head down, keep my relationship with all shareholders. It's very good with Ron. We speak often, so I'm in a good place but it'll be a little uncomfortable at times."

ExxonMobil have departed as fuel partner, how significant is that change over with fuel suppliers going to be?

ZB: "ExxonMobil have been a very long-time partner of McLaren, around 20 years, and then before that Shell. So obviously the fuel and lubricants category and partnership in motorsport is critical to your on-track success with how sophisticated these cars are.

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"So it's unfortunate that ExxonMobil after that period of time has moved on. I wasn't involved in that and haven't been involved in that, so I don't know the complete background, but changes happen. We once had Shell and then it went to Ferrari, and others had ExxonMobil and then they came to us, so just working on solidifying our future partnership because it is an important partnership on and off the track."

Will you sit on the Strategy Group? Do McLaren need a louder voice?

ZB: "Yes, I will be in the Strategy Group.

"I'd like to see McLaren in this new era of ownership of Formula 1 much like McLaren has led the way, in my opinion, of what today's Formula 1 looks like in the paddock - and lots of credit to Ron for his vision there of the style, sophistication and technology etcetera.

"I'd like to see McLaren not only continue to do that but also have that same approach to fan and sponsor engagement. So absolutely I plan on behalf of McLaren [to be on the Strategy Group] and really helping lead the industry and want them to come along for the ride in pushing the envelope on new and innovative ways of marketing.

"Given that that's my background, I certainly plan on sharing my opinion there."

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