Alan Brown, F1 driver

The current Concorde Agreement, F1's crucial three-way commercial deal between the commercial rights holder (Liberty Media-owned FOM), the FIA and the 10 teams covers the 2021-2025 period.
With two more years remaining beyond the current season, there's no rush to thrash out a fresh deal, but in a recent call with Wall Street analysts Liberty Media president Greg Maffei said he was keen to ...

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McLaren published its annual sustainability report on Thursday, with the team boasting significant improvements.
These include a 22% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from a 2019 baseline and a 19% reduction in total waste compared to 2019 with nothing sent to landfill.
F1 has made a significant sustainability push in recent years, with the sport publicly targeting to be net zero carbon ...

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McLaren introduced a new package in Baku which represented the car it felt it should have started the season with, adhering to a different floor philosophy that tried to address the lack of efficiency of the Woking team's launch spec MCL35.
But while the new floor delivered a small boost once it was put on the car in last week's Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the car's continued inefficiency was still ...

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The 2022 Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year has become the latest member of the Formula 1 team’s junior line-up, alongside 2021 Award winner Zak O’Sullivan.
Browning currently competes for Hitech Pulse-Eight in Formula 3, and sits 10th in the drivers’ standings with 14 points and a best finish of fifth in Bahrain.
His rookie F3 season follows a hugely successful 2022 ...

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After the Saudi Arabian GP, the team announced that technical director James Key had left and that a new arrangement had been put in place headed by three technical directors, namely Peter Prodromou (aerodynamics), Davide Sanchez (car concept and performance) and Neil Houldey (engineering and design).
Brown says that the changes were motivated by the lack of development of the 2022 car, and ...

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Albon was running in sixth place when he had a high-speed spin into a barrier and his damaged car rolled back towards the edge of the track.
The first drivers on the scene, Pierre Gasly and Hulkenberg, had virtually no warning – and only just missed the stricken Williams as they passed it at full speed. Hulkenberg admitted that he had a narrow escape.
"Holy moly, I mean seriously I had a ...

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After an intriguing silly season saga last summer, Brown snapped up 2021 Formula 2 champion Piastri to replace fellow Australian Daniel Ricciardo, who had struggled to match Norris in his two challenging years with the team.
While Piastri was a highly regarded prospect in the paddock, the decision still carried some risk as the 21-year-old had not even tested for the team before being ...

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The FIA announced earlier this month that it was appealing for expressions of interest from potential new F1 teams, with a view to expanding the grid to 11 or 12 teams as early as 2025. 
Andretti Global is currently the most vocal party looking to join the F1 grid in the future, securing a partnership with US automotive giant General Motors for its entry proposal. 
But the reaction ...

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Andretti CEO Michael Andretti has made no secret of his ambition to get his eponymous team into F1 and, although his bid for an entry was heralded by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the 10 teams in the series have been less welcoming.
That stance from some of the teams, particularly Mercedes, has softened slightly with Andretti's tie-up with GM's Cadillac brand, while Alpine is believed to ...

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The FIA is currently evaluating its next steps after announcing last week that Red Bull had breached last year's cost cap limit, as well as having committed a procedural offence.
Aston Martin was also found to have broken the rules with a procedural breach.
Both Red Bull and Aston Martin have the option of going down an Accepted Breach Agreement if they concur with the FIA's findings, or ...

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The FIA has been completing its audit of each F1 team's financial submission for the 2021 season in recent months, judging if each outfit complied with the $145 million limit for last year.
Speculation arose over the Singapore Grand Prix weekend that two teams - Red Bull and Aston Martin - may have been in breach of the cap, although both outfits fiercely denied the allegations.
The FIA was ...

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F1 is currently enjoying a boom in popularity in the United States, with three American races announced on the calendar for 2023 as Las Vegas joins Austin and Miami.
But it has been over 15 years since an American last raced full-time in F1. A recent push by Red Bull to secure IndyCar driver Colton Herta an AlphaTauri seat for next year fell flat as the FIA was unwilling to grant him an ...

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In the wake of Alpine's driver drama, Red Bull was willing to release Pierre Gasly from his 2023 contract to join the Enstone team, but only if it could get multiple IndyCar race winner Herta to replace him at AlphaTauri.
But with Herta on just 32 superlicence points out of the 40 needed to be allowed to race in F1, that avenue appears to have closed as the FIA announced it wouldn't make any ...

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Piastri will race for McLaren next year after F1's Contract Recognition Board (CRB) ruled Alpine's claim it had an agreement in place with the Australian for next year was not correct.
Ahead of the CRB hearing, Alpine team boss Szafnauer said at Spa he was "very" confident Alpine would win the case, as well as questioning Piastri's integrity given all of Alpine's support for ...

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McLaren is aiming to give an F1 drive to Oscar Piastri for 2023 but the reigning F2 champion is engaged in a dispute with current parent team Alpine. A Contract Recognition Board hearing is set for Monday to rule on the matter.
Over in IndyCar, McLaren has signed a deal with reigning champion Alex Palou for 2023, but the Spaniard is also engaged in a contract wrangling with current team Chip ...

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Ricciardo?s long-term future at the Woking-based team has been thrown into question after Brown last week made comments that the Australian driver?s results had not lived up to expectations.
Ricciardo accepted that his time at the team had not delivered the results he or his bosses would have liked, but he was clear in Monaco that he was committed for the full three years of his contract ...

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Following his first IndyCar win of the season and the third of his career at Barber Motorsports Park last Sunday, O?Ward revealed that he was on the cusp of renewing his contract with the Arrow McLaren SP team.
This followed a couple of months of speculation surrounding the two parties? future together, as O?Ward had initially been affronted that McLaren will be testing his long-time U.S ...

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The inaugural Miami Grand Prix that takes place this weekend has generated a huge amount of hype and interest, with F1 chiefs capitalising on the championship's booming following in the United States.
But with other countries looking to grab a race themselves a grand prix, and Las Vegas is already confirmed for 2023, there is a growing likelihood that some of the current events will have to ...

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Andretti has opened talks with the FIA about joining F1 from 2024, having failed in its efforts last year to take over the Alfa Romeo outfit.
But while Andretti's plans have generated huge interest, not all teams are convinced that the American squad should be given an automatic slot.
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff and Red Bull chief Christian Horner both made it clear this week that Andretti ...

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O'Ward enjoyed his first taste of F1 machinery at the end of last year in Abu Dhabi when he took part in the young driver test as a reward for scoring his maiden IndyCar win for the Arrow McLaren SP squad.
The Mexican driver finished the year third in the IndyCar standings and was in contention for the championship until the final race, taking wins in Texas and Detroit.
Following his test in ...

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F1 and its governing body have found themselves on the receiving end of a wave of criticism for the way in which the 2021 season ended in controversy after the way a late-race safety car restart was handled at the final race.
While an FIA investigation into the events of Abu Dhabi and questions over F1's decision-making process is ongoing, Brown says the lessons of 2021 show that change is ...

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McLaren continued its resurgence in 2020 by claiming third in the championship and scoring two podiums with Lando Norris and Carlos Sainz but couldn't hang onto that position in 2021 as Ferrari swung back after several lean years of its own.
But despite dropping a position in the championship, CEO Brown thinks 2021 was still a landmark year for the Woking team, and not just because of Daniel ...

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Last year F1 enjoyed its most intense title finale since 2016, and its first true inter-team battle in a decade when Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton fought over the drivers' championship until a gripping season finale in Abu Dhabi - which went Verstappen's way in dramatic circumstances.
The Verstappen-Hamilton duel reinvigorated the series after years of Mercedes ...

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The wager came as the result of an Industry Leaders' Challenge begun by the Grand Prix Trust, a charity that helps support anyone who has worked in F1 and who has fallen on hard times.
Wolff nominated Brown to do something he was scared of, and that prompted the idea of a tattoo because the McLaren chief famously hates needles.
Ahead of the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Brown visited a ...

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The results of the F1 Global Survey commissioned by Motorsport Network in partnership with F1 and Nielsen Sports were released on Thursday ahead of the United States Grand Prix after responses from more than 167,000 fans in 187 different countries.
The vote saw McLaren take top spot on the F1 grid, with 29.5% of fans naming it as their favourite team, almost doubling its result of 15.8% from ...

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