Brown insists McLaren Racing is not for sale

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown insists the team will not be sold to Audi despite discussions well-nigh a partnership with the wheels manufacturer.

Audi has been linked with a takeover of McLaren as it evaluates its entry into Formula 1, with Volkswagen having given both Audi and Porsche the untried light to join the sport in 2026. While whereas talks took place, Brown says the idea of selling the team was not one that McLaren was unshut to.

“Our shareholders are very single-minded to McLaren,” Brown said. “We did have conversations with Audi and we’re not for sale. We’re very single-minded to the future. We’re doing really well on the track, shareholders made substantial investments to requite our team the resources we need to get when to the front, commercially we’re doing really well; morale in the team is really good. We don’t have any interest in selling the racing team.

“We won’t consider a buyout. It’s up to Andreas (Seidl — McLaren team principal) to decide what power unit he wants in the when of the racing car, but any conversation virtually ownership McLaren is a non-starter.”

With the likes of Audi and Porsche only linked with existing teams rather than rhadamanthine standalone new constructors, Brown says any new teams need to show how they will increase the value of those once on the grid.

“I think we’ve got a unconfined spectacle as it is. I understand that some people would go, ‘Well if there’s ten very healthy teams without a risk of losing a team…’ Whereas, historically, in the last 20 years there’s unchangingly been a team on the brink. I know Audi and Porsche — the (VW) CEO made a statement older this week which powerfully confirmed that they’re coming into the sport.

“We can go up to 12 teams, and as long as it’s quality teams that are properly resourced and contribute to the growth of the sport, whether you buy an existing team, invest into an existing team or start one, I think it shows how healthy the sport is now that you have real people — investors and OEMs — that are trying to icon out a way to get into the sport. That’s achieved what we’ve unchangingly wanted to unzip which is to build franchise value for the racing teams.”