Brown plots a return to glory days for McLaren

Some of the second half of the year was about learning about next year’s car, CEO says

The chief executive officer of McLaren Racing is confident of returning to the glory days as he seeks to build the Formula 1 team around outgoing two-time world champion Fernando Alonso.

Zak Brown, the American businessman and former professional racing driver who currently resides in London, was announced as CEO of McLaren in April as part of an operational restructure of the McLaren Group. Under the new management structure, racing director Eric Boullier now reports directly to Brown.

Founded in 1963 by New Zealander Bruce McLaren, the racing unit is the second oldest active F1 team after Ferrari.

They are also the second most successful in F1 history after Ferrari having won 182 races, 12 Drivers’ Championships and eight Constructors’ Championships with their last Constructors’ crown coming in 1998 and their Drivers’ title 10 years later.

With managerial changes in recent times things have been looking up despite the team being sixth on the Constructors’ standings with 62 points with Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne at the helm.

They have not exactly delivered as per their promise, and this is something that Brown wants to change.

“It’s not great at all,” Brown said. “It was a disappointing season. We have obviously built a poor race car that has not responded much to the development that we put on the car till the USA GP. Some of the reports we got from the Spain testing were very inaccurate regarding the development.

“Some of the second half of the year was about learning about next year’s car. We are looking forward to this race being over and from Monday we will be looking at 2019. I am confident that the team is working well together and strongly together. We have understood where we made mistakes.”