Brown: The sport is on 'fire' and long may it continue

The deal, first reported at the beginning of September, sees the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund and the Abu Dhabi-based automotive investor take 100% control of McLaren Racing. The stake sale was confirmed by Brown to Bloomberg: “We’re all done.”

The transaction involves a further 30% acquisition by Mumtalakat and CYVN, who already owned significant shares in McLaren Group. Their combined move now consolidates full ownership of the racing arm, which includes McLaren’s Formula 1 and wider motorsport programmes.

Brown insisted the deal reflected the strength of Formula 1’s commercial boom under Liberty Media’s stewardship and the cost cap era: “The sport is on fire, you know, every metric, demand for teams. It wasn’t long ago that Liberty acquired the sport and put a cost cap in place, which kind of ensured everyone’s financial stability, on-track stability and competitiveness.

“So it’s been a wonderful thing. The fans are coming out in the tens and hundreds of millions, sponsors, partners in the sport, unlike we’ve ever seen before, so the sport is on fire, and long may it continue.”

The McLaren boss rejected suggestions that F1 team valuations had hit their ceiling. “I don’t think so. I think if you look at sports in general, and I wouldn’t say I’m an expert at all sports by any means, but they’ve only been going north forever.

"Every time there’s a record deal and whatever sport it is, everyone goes, ‘Oh, that was crazy’. And then you look back and in five years, they’ve still gone up. So I think our sport in particular has a lot of room for growth. We have 24 races, we have demand for probably 30 grands prix, so the demand is strong.”

Brown pointed to McLaren’s ability to attract major sponsors as evidence of the sport’s momentum. “Our car has the best brands in the world, the Mastercards, the Googles, etc. The competition is amazing. Last year, four teams won, seven different drivers won multiple races.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen that in my 30 years of following the sport, so the on-track competition is great. The off-track drama, as captured by Netflix, is fantastic. The demand for grands prix has never been stronger, so I think the sport, in many ways, is just getting going.”

The completed deal now secures McLaren Racing’s long-term stability under sole ownership of Mumtalakat and CYVN, with Brown adamant that the value of Formula 1 as a whole will only continue to rise.