GOING BACK TO ITS ROOTS

When Bruce Mclaren founded his team it was more than just a F1 operation. In its early days, Mclaren was as famous for its successes in Indycars and sportscars.

What was its past could well be its future, too. Brown, since he became chief executive, has been exploring the idea of Mclaren racing in all three categories again. The first toe in the water was an assault on the 2017 Indianapolis 500 with Fernando Alonso, in a Mclaren-branded car run by Andretti Autosport. Alonso’s return to Indy this year is with a full-on Mclaren operation, albeit with help from the British Carlin team.

It is unsaid for now, but Mclaren has basically committed to going back to Indy with Alonso until he either wins it – and completes the unofficial ‘triple crown’ – or decides to give up trying. In time, this could expand into a full Indycar championship entry, although it remains to be seen whether this will be as early as 2020.

Meanwhile, Mclaren is keeping an eye on the World Endurance Championship and its shift to regulations focused on hyper-cars for 2020/21. The man who will oversee all this is Gil de Ferran, whose role as sporting director encompasses all three of Mclaren’s racing activities.

Until he joined Mclaren in 2018, de Ferran’s F1 experience was limited to a couple of years as Honda’s sporting director in the mid-2000s, and a couple of tests for Williams and Footwork in the early ’90s. But he is widely respected, not just for his driving success – two Champ Car titles and an Indy 500 win – but also his intelligence, and original thinking. Until now, de Ferran has primarily been focused on F1. That will change now Andreas Seidl has started his role as F1 managing director.

Brown says: “When Andreas starts, he will be running the F1 team, and I have myself running the business and Gil helping and supporting me in all of our racing activities, but with more of a focus on what and if are we going to do in sportscars, what and if are we going to do in Indycars.”

The timeframe is not yet clear, but sooner or later Mclaren will be racing in F1, Indycars and sportscars. Just like it was at the very beginning.