McLaren not looking for traditional F1 title sponsor
McLaren executive director Zak Brown says he is not looking for a traditional title sponsor for the Formula 1 team as he wants to keep its name intact by not attaching it to another brand.
Since taking up a role running the team in December 2016, Brown has been tasked with finding new sponsors for McLaren, with the significant financial gap left by Honda's departure at the end of last year requiring some kind of recuperation.
McLaren executive director Zak Brown says he is not looking for a traditional title sponsor for the Formula 1 team as he wants to keep its name intact by not attaching it to another brand.
Since taking up a role running the team in December 2016, Brown has been tasked with finding new sponsors for McLaren, with the significant financial gap left by Honda's departure at the end of last year requiring some kind of recuperation.
McLaren has announced commercial deals with Dell and CNBC over the winter, and the new MCL33 car was launched with branding of Fernando Alonso's new surfwear brand, Kimoa, but the large blank spaces on the orange livery were noted.
McLaren has not worked with a title sponsor since Vodafone's departure at the end of the 2013 season, and Brown said that while a large commercial partner is still being sought, it would not take the form of a regular title sponsor.
"We don’t want a title sponsor per se. What we would like is a principal partner," Brown said.
"So title level branding is everyone in here would think of it, but we want to retain our name McLaren. We are not really interested in selling the name to the team.
"Sponsorship takes along time to get. We brought on five new partners during the off-season which is more than any other team, so I'm quite happy with our progress.
"It’ll take time. Obviously the more money we have brought in, we can put into the racing team, but we haven’t budgeted for [a title partner] this year, so we are on course financially."
Six of the 10 teams on the F1 grid are racing with title sponsors in 2018 that have an impact on their official name: Mercedes AMG Petronas Motorsport, Sahara Force India, Aston Martin Red Bull Racing, Alfa Romeo Sauber, Red Bull Toro Rosso Honda and Williams Martini Racing.
McLaren's title sponsorship agreement with Vodafone lasted from 2007 to 2013, and was preceded by a deal with cigarette brand West that ran from 1997 to 2006. The team is officially called 'McLaren F1 Team' in 2018.
