Zak Brown reveals ultimate goal for McLaren Racing: “A lot of unfinished business”

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has claimed that there is still “unfinished business” for the organisation as he outlined its “ultimate goals.”

Brown became the executive director of McLaren Technology Group in 2016 before taking the role of chief executive officer of McLaren Racing in 2018. Under the leadership of the 53-year-old, McLaren secured its first Formula 1 constructors’ championship victory since 1998 last year.

“I feel like we’re on our way,” Brown explained to TSN when asked about the team’s progress towards his end goal. “I feel like we are hitting our goals, but our ultimate goal is to win the Indy 500, win the IndyCar championship, win the Formula 1 constructors’ championship, win the Formula 1 drivers’ championship, win Le Mans and win the World Endurance Championship, and then to do it again.

“And, so we’ve only been able to do one of those so far, which is the constructors’ championship. But in all seriousness, I feel like we’re well on our way, but a lot of unfinished business.”

After the team’s success in F1, Brown is keen to replicate it in IndyCar.

“Yeah, closer. We’re not there yet. You know, we’re having a good run. We’re second and I think fifth in the championship at the moment [at the time of the interview].

“I’ve never seen in my years of following IndyCar a driver dominate like Alex [Palou] has, which we know is a fantastic talent with a great racing team.
We’ve become close on the Indy 500 on three occasions now. So, you know, we’re moving into our new shop. We just got the keys to it. We’ve brought in some new senior hires. Very happy with our driver lineup.

Zak Brown, McLaren

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images via Getty Images

“So I feel we’re on our way, but we’re still a young team. We need to get into our new shop, be able to kind of get our elbows out, but I’m liking everything that I’m seeing from Tony [Kanaan] and Kevin [Thimjon] who are leading the team.”

Following the interview with TSN, Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward won the NTT IndyCar Series race in Toronto, where Brown was in attendance.

“I can’t say I saw this one coming today,” O’Ward commented after securing the victory. “But I was feeling so good on the prime tire all weekend. We were just struggling a bit to get the alternate to work in qualifying. But I knew I had a great car under me to race with and the guys nailed it on the strategy.”