Join me as we have a quick chat with McLaren’s Executive Director, Zak Brown on this TPF Downshift Interview Series Podcast.
We discuss F1’s future regulations, McLaren’s 2018 prospects, F1’s spending habits, FOM’s higher operating costs and it’s impact on prize money, Fernando Alonso, the Daytona 24 and much more.
A huge thank you to Zak for making time to speak with us and helping us unpack the sport of Formula 1.
"You can't take F1 to America, you have to take America to F1."
tpf@theparcferme.com
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What a coup Todd!
This will make the trip to work tomorrow much more interesting.
A great way to bounce back from the Liberty Media knock back, and to start the New Year.
Indeed. Paul thought it would be good to start off with the new brand on our best foot and it doesn’t get much better than Zak.
That was a great podcast! What an interview! I’ve like listening to Zak during the race broadcast, it was good to see you could nab him for the podcast.
It was refreshing to hear his take on the direction of the sport without all the drama. For me he has a lot of great ideas and I can only hope that his voice will be at least heard.
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Don't know 4That was a really enjoyable podcast Todd. You asked some very good questions, and always strike up a great rapport with your interviewee. I thought Brown’s comment along the lines “we need a cost cap, and it’s coming”, is an absolute bombshell. If Liberty Media are able to get that across the line with the teams that will be a huge achievement and will change F1 fundamentally. The fact Brown, representing McLaren is in favour of a cost cap is surprising to me, as McLaren are a beneficiary of an annual $30M ‘Constructors Championship Bonus’ payment, and have one of… Read more »
Firstly thanks to Todd, a great podcast with Zak Brown. I’ve a good idea who he was referring too about Daytona, having followed days of timing screens and seen a few teams creep up throughout the roar, and probably are gambling on better BOP for the race. On your point now, whilst Zak Brown’s comment of ‘We need a cost cap, and its coming’ is significant, especially for a team of McLaren’s size and resource. We know a very big difference exists between agreeing with the notion of a budget cap, and negotiating exactly what is included in that and… Read more »
Hi Tom,
You are quite right, there is a long way to go from ‘we need a cost cap’ to ‘all the teams have signed up to a cost cap, and this is how it works……’.
I’m just stunned that Brown, representing McLaren, is in favour.
If Liberty Media can get all the teams to sign up for that it will be a miracle even greater than the F.I.A!
I think its evidence that McLaren as an organisation are financially wilting under the effects of the loss of a title sponsor, low finishes in the WCC, and Fernando’s salary.
And another comment…….
What are the other two ‘Big Things’ that L.M need to tackle?
Brown said there were four but only told us two – distribution of payments, and cost cap….
Another one, this one for you Todd,
The question I wish you’d asked, ‘Zak Brown built a very successful marketing business which attracted alot of major sponsors into Formula 1, but McLaren go into 2018 still without a major sponsor. Is Formula 1 no longer attractive to major companies as a sponsorship propostion? If so, what’s the reason(s) for that, if not, is it just that McLaren are cr*p?’.
I had a question that was very close to that about sponsors, knowing his background, but ran out of time. I wanted to ask about the death of the huge title sponsor concept, the reliance of teams on the prize money and how F1 could energize its sponsorship allure.
Even deeper than my thought, I should have expected that.
I hope you get another chance to interview Brown, possibly after McLaren’s 1-2 finish at Melbourne.
It will really interesting to hear what he has to say.