Zak Brown has steadied the ship at McLaren in the past few years, their Formula 1 team decent again, in tandem with a new programme in Indycar and a WEC Hypercar foray in the works.
Now the ambitious CEO has set a target to become the first-ever team boss to win the Triple Crown of Motorsport… and blame it on Fernando Alonso.
The pair are famously friendly, and the Spaniard ‘only’ an Indy 500 win away from matching Graham Hill which, by Brown’s own admission, has influenced his dream.
Speaking on the Beyond the Grid podcast this week, Brown said, “There’s no team I enjoy more than McLaren and I love it we’re in Formula 1, IndyCar, I’d love to see us get back to sportscars.
“My dream would be the Formula 1 World Championship, Indianapolis 500, IndyCar Championship, Le Mans 24-hours. We can do all of those things at McLaren but that’ll probably take 20 years, so I’ve got big aspirations.
“I’d like to be the first team boss to win the triple crown, I’ve got to blame Fernando [Alonso] for that,”
Brown, who has an interest in United Autosports is a motorsport lifer and sees a long term future for himself at Woking, “I can definitely see myself being at McLaren for decades. I did my old company JMI for 23 years, I’m four years into this, it kinda feels like yesterday.
“I’m 48-years old and I’m one of those like Bernie [Ecclestone], like Ron, like Frank who are gonna work until they’re 70, 80 years old. It means I can do this for another 20 plus years,” added the American.