Brown hails unrivalled F1 commercial success story at McLaren

Zak Brown believes McLaren is commercially the most successful team in Formula 1 history after taking its first constructors’ title for 26 years in 2024. 

It began last season with 53 partners, which was the most on the F1 grid when teams lined up for the Bahrain opener in March.

When Brown was appointed CEO in 2018, McLaren had 31 partnerships so bringing more on board – specifically from the American market he knows well – was an early mission when the Los Angeles-born businessman first sat at his desk in Woking.

Now, talking at the media day ahead of the F175 event in London, Brown suggested no further partnerships will be announced before the 2025 season and that he has achieved the ambition of dovetailing on-track improvements with commercial success.

“We’re in great shape commercially,” he said. “We have the most amount of commercial revenue that a racing team has ever had, probably in Formula 1 would be my guess. We’ll know when the books all get opened up for last year, later in the year. 

“We definitely have interesting things coming. All of our major announcements are done, but I’ve been doing this long enough to expect the unexpected. But at this point, what you’ll see tonight on our race car is what we plan on going racing with.”

Teaming up with brands such as eBay and Mastercard, added to deals with the likes of Google Chrome and Coca-Cola, has bolstered the McLaren coffers and means Brown does not anticipate sweeping commercial changes in the near future.

He added: “2026 should be more of the same. My biggest focus right now on the racing team is stability and visibility from a longevity point of view.

“So whether that’s the pit wall, our racing drivers, our sponsors, is what I’m laser focused on. If all goes according to plan, you shouldn’t see much change in any of that through the balance of the decade.”

McLaren is certainly not alone in adding to its network of partnerships, as teams collectively benefit from F1’s continued growth in its own right.

Brown believes that progress will show no signs of abating as Liberty Media branch out further still, having already staged the pre-season livery launch at the O2 Arena.

“I think this event is an awesome way to kick off the year,” said Brown. “The calendar is quite vibrant, the Brad Pitt movie will no doubt create a huge amount of awareness for the sport.

“Netflix, I’m sure, knowing what happened last year, will be a drama-filled television show again, which has been great for all of us. So I think the sport’s going from strength to strength.

“The leadership with Stefano (Domenicali, F1 CEO) and the people around him are very strong. 

“So I don’t see anything other than what we’re all worried about in businesses of macro-environment issues, but I think the sport is extremely healthy, and I don’t see any reason why it’s not going to continue to grow.”