Brown targets team boss ‘triple crown’ with McLaren

Zak Brown has set his sights on following Fernando Alonso’s lead by completing the ‘triple crown of motorsport’ with McLaren in a team boss capacity.

McLaren executive director Brown has proven instrumental in allowing Alonso to pursue his goal of becoming just the second driver in racing history to complete the ‘triple crown’ after Graham Hill, striking a deal for the Spaniard to make his Indianapolis 500 debut last year.

Alonso has already completed one leg of the ‘triple crown’, winning the Monaco Grand Prix twice, and wants to follow this up by taking victories in the Indy 500 and the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Brown has been pushing to get McLaren involved in other series, and is known to be angling for a return to Le Mans in the future, giving the American executive a chance to pursue his own ‘triple crown’.

“It’s a massive privilege to work at McLaren, that’s a dream come true. There’s not a team I would want to work for more than McLaren,” Brown said.

“I want to get onto the Formula 1 podium, that’s what I’m excited about.

“Now Fernando has got this whole triple crown thing going, I think it would be cool to do that as a team boss. So maybe I can follow.

“It means I’ve got to win Monaco, as he’s already won Monaco. I just want to keep doing this for a long time. The McLaren brand and racing history is awesome.

“What we did at Indianapolis last year was a dream come true, to do it with Michael Andretti who I grew up watching, to do it with a two-time Formula 1 world champion. It’s pretty easy to show up to work when your task is to try and win the Indianapolis 500 with McLaren and Fernando Alonso and the Andretti family.

“I just want to keep doing exciting stuff like that.”

McLaren has a rich history in racing outside of F1, taking overall victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans back in 1995 and winning the Indianapolis on three occasions in the 1970s.

Brown is eager to push the manufacturer into other series, including the WEC and IndyCar, but stressed F1 would remain the priority regardless of McLaren’s external interests.

“We’re waiting to see and we’re involved in the new rules that the WEC are working on and collaborating with IMSA. We’re very interested spectators and participants in those meetings,” Brown said.

“Le Mans is something that we’ve won before. We’ve got a great automotive business, so we have a reason to promote our brand around the world maybe unlike some other Formula 1 teams. Some other Formula 1 teams do have that same agenda or need.

“Personally I’d like to see us racing in IndyCar in the future. I’d love to see us at sports car racing in the future. We’ve got our eSports team, we’re involved in Formula E, we’re doing the batteries.

“I kind of call it in the galaxy of motorsports, the McLaren solar system, and the biggest planet is always going to be Formula 1. But then you’ve got another planet of eSports, another planet of Formula E.

“Obviously we did Indy, so if we could go back there someday, that would be great, and then sports cars we have history in.

“I think that’s the portfolio of activities which is why I seem to be at a race track all the time working 10 days a week.”