Warwick Brown

Brown originally joined McLaren in 2016 before becoming CEO in 2018. A year later, he appointed Seidl as team principal, with the pair having divided responsibilities that play to their strengths.<br>With a number of F1 teams adopting similar structures of having roles spread across a number of senior figures rather than one overall chief, McLaren is clear that the process works. But Brown says ...

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Although Mercedes won the F1 season opener in Bahrain, the pace shown by Red Bull throughout the weekend points to the RB16B being the quickest car on the grid right now.<br>But rather than Mercedes being downbeat about the task it now faces to close the gap to Red Bull, Wolff says the German car manufacturer was actually revelling in the circumstances.<br>“In a way there is a feeling within the ...

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The latest series of Drive to Survive has served to divide opinion among F1 supporters, with some revelling in the background insights while others getting riled by the way it has top-spun some drama.<br>In particular, the frequent cutting in of radio conversations or comments to play up controversy grated with some – and it was noted how it tried to portray a sense of conflict between McLaren ...

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F1 announced plans for a record-breaking 23-race calendar in 2021 back in November, and remains committed to its longest-ever campaign despite changes enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic.<br>The current schedule features three triple-headers in the space of 11 weeks in the second half of the season, prompting concerns from teams about the impact it will have on personnel.<br>F1 CEO and ...

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McLaren enjoyed its best F1 season since 2012 last year as it finished third in the constructors’ championship and scored two podium finishes with Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz.<br>The team has switched to Mercedes power units for the 2021 season, and has been boosted by fresh investment over the winter from American group MSP Sports Capital.<br>McLaren’s upward trajectory starkly contrasts ...

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2021 will be the first year in F1 history where team spending is regulated, limiting them to a $145 million cost cap in a bid to make the field more competitive.<br>F1 is also working to a revised governance structure this year under the new Concorde Agreement, which looked to create greater political parity between teams.<br>McLaren has enjoyed a steady rise through the F1 field in recent years ...

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After the Williams family announced back in May that it was considering selling the team, American investment fund Dorilton Capital acquired the British squad at the end of August.<br>The deal put an end to the financial uncertainty facing the Williams team, giving a boost to its finances after recording a loss of £13 million through 2019.<br>Parallels were drawn ...

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Stroll was forced to miss the last Formula 1 race at the Nurburgring after becoming ill ahead of final practice, but the team said he had not tested positive for COVID-19.<br>Stroll's most recent COVID-19 test prior to his withdrawal was on the Tuesday before the race, with a test on Sunday coming back positive.<br>Racing Point has vehemently defended its COVID-19 testing arrangements and decision ...

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Racing Point was docked 15 constructors’ championship points and fined 400,000 Euros after being found guilty by the FIA of having used Mercedes-designed brake ducts.<br>That decision, allied to rivals Renault, McLaren, Williams and Ferrari initially appealing the verdict, prompted an outspoken statement from team owner Stroll in declaring that he did not accept the FIA’s ...

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Racing Point was hit with a 15-point constructors' championship penalty and a €400,000 fine last week for breaching the sporting regulations in the design of the brake ducts on its 2020 car.<br>The team was deemed to have copied the design of Mercedes' 2019 brake ducts, having been open in its bid to reverse engineer last year's title-winner in producing the RP20 through photography.<br>McLaren ...

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The Woking outfit made it clear that it needed to secure extra financing in order to help it through the crisis, and also announced that it would trim its staff levels.<br>In June, the team arranged a loan from Bahrain’s National Bank, and in addition in recent weeks it has announced several new sponsorship deals, including a renewed arrangement with Gulf Oil, previously a partner of the team ...

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At the moment only eight races are formally scheduled, starting in Austria next week, although more are expected to be confirmed in the coming days.<br>F1 CEO Chase Carey has consistently said that there will be a calendar of at least 15 races, but he has struggled to confirm any events outside Europe thus far.<br>Asked how tough it would be for the teams had the season not resumed ...

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Brown, a part-owner of the Walkinshaw Andretti United Supercars squad, has thrown his support behind the idea of the two F1 aces teaming up for a wildcard tilt at Bathurst in a WAU Holden once Ricciardo joins McLaren.<br>The determining factor, according to Brown, will be the Formula 1 and Supercars calendars, with the Bathurst 1000 and Japanese Grand Prix traditionally falling on the same ...

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Brown says Carlos Sainz’s move to Ferrari for 2021 was handled openly and amicably, while in contrast he sees “bad blood” at both the Maranello outfit and Renault, where the impending exits of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo have been accompanied by some tension between the parties.<br>Brown says that McLaren knew that Sainz had an opportunity to go to Ferrari, and formally gave him ...

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Brown also believes that there could be more "fireworks" in the Ferrari camp involving Vettel and Charles Leclerc when this season's action finally gets under way.<br>Brown says he knew over the winter that there was a chance that Sainz could leave at the end of this year, and that he was in contact with Ferrari.<br>He had thus already lined up Ricciardo, who came close to joining the Woking team ...

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F1 is hopeful of reducing the performance gaps between teams under the new technical regulations starting in 2022, aided by a budget cap that will come into force next year.<br>Just three teams - Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull - have scored race wins in the last six seasons, with the last victory outside those teams coming for Lotus at the 2013 Australian Grand Prix.<br>By comparison, 11 IndyCar ...

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F1 teams are currently working on ways to cut costs ahead of the anticipated economic crisis following the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already forced the opening 10 races of the 2020 season to be called off.<br>The 2020 cars will be carried over to '21 in order to save development costs for next year, while the budget cap coming into force is set to be reduced from $175 million to $145m.<br>Red ...

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But he argues that the sport needs to do a better job of planning contingencies, like a further outbreak of coronavirus among team members, than it did at the aborted Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.<br>Speaking exclusively to Motorsport.com for the #thinkingforward series of interviews with the sport’s leaders, Brown said that starting the series in early July with two races in Austria and ...

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Ferrari was at the centre of controversy earlier this year when it was announced that it had reached a private agreement with the FIA to formally conclude an investigation into the legality of its engine.<br>The deal was struck because the FIA did not want a lengthy court case over the matter, having been unable to prove Ferrari broke the rules with the Italian outfit adamant it had been legal at ...

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The F1 season is currently on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the first nine events of the 2020 campaign having been cancelled or postponed.<br>Although the first scheduled race is the French Grand Prix on June 28, it is unlikely that will be able to go ahead because of ongoing restrictions on public gatherings.<br>Last week, F1 CEO Chase Carey outlined to teams the idea of getting ...

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Brown also likened the two teams to "a heavyweight who only wants to fight middleweights" as they continue to defend their financial and thus competitive advantage.<br>Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis, teams have provisionally agreed to lower the 2021 cost cap from $175m to $150m.<br>However, in a video meeting of F1 bosses on Monday, Brown and others backed a further drop to $125m. Of the ...

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With no races currently taking place, all teams are facing a financial squeeze.<br>They still have significant overheads such as salaries, while facing the prospect a future loss of income from both the F1 prize fund and their own sponsors.<br>Brown believes that the sport should take steps such as further lowering the budget cap that comes into force in 2021.<br>He also warned that if teams do ...

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McLaren currently lies fourth in the world championship, having regularly won the “best of the rest” midfield battle in recent races.<br>And Brown believes it is not just the improved MCL34 but strong performances from the two drivers that have given McLaren an edge over its nearest rivals.<br>“We’re very happy with both our drivers, they’re both very quick they get along very well, they ...

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On the back of a major restructuring, which has included the recent arrival of Andreas Seidl as team principal, the outfit has currently established itself in fourth place in the standings.<br><br>Read Also:<br><br>Brown: McLaren in "total clarity" now that Seidl is here<br>McLaren says it might revisit F1 efficiency push <br><br><br>For McLaren CEO Zak Brown, the changes that he has helped ...

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Former Porsche LMP1 head Seidl kicked off his new role with McLaren at the Spanish Grand Prix earlier this month, joining technical director James Key as McLaren F1 CEO Zak Brown’s second major new recruit of 2019.<br>That followed the promotion of Andrea Stella to performance director and Gil de Ferran to sporting director, in the wake of Eric Boullier’s exit last summer.<br>Asked by ...

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