McLaren Racing CEO: Formula 1 'is just getting started' in the US
Huge US brands — Google, Coca-Cola, and Goldman Sachs — have teamed up with McLaren
The Formula 1 (FWONK) season is in full swing with round 9 of the championship, the Grand Prix of Canada, on tap for this weekend.
Though Red Bull’s Max Verstappen appears to be walking away with the driver’s championship, for the constructors' — or team — championship, many of the outfits are still battling to establish the pecking order. For you see in F1, the more competitive the team is, the more prize money they get.
McLaren Racing, one of the legendary teams up there in F1 lore like Ferrari and Williams, is celebrating its 60th year as an F1 constructor. CEO Zak Brown, a long-time vet of the racing scene both in F1 and other series, is slowly trying to bring the team back after a recent lull in its history.
For Brown, F1’s popularity, and his own team’s success, depends on a strong US — one that many automakers involved in F1, and McLaren’s own road car business, depends on for a majority of sales.
"I think it's early days, which is amazing," Brown says of Formula 1’s US appeal, which started around the time Netflix’s “Drive to Survive” series started five years ago. "A lot of people are saying, 'How long do you think it will continue?' And my answer is, 'I think we're actually just getting started, right?' We haven't even had Las Vegas yet."
The inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix is coming this year, under the lights, in mid-November. This follows F1’s return to the US with a semi-permanent race in Austin, and two races in Miami which began last year. Brown notes F1’s success has led to a new TV contract in the US with ESPN, with ratings still relatively strong.
This of course has led to blue-chip US companies like Oracle, Chipotle, Workday, and AutoNation joining the sponsorship ranks.
Brown, who cut his teeth bringing in sponsors for various race teams he worked for after his career as a racer, has seen McLaren boost its sponsorship numbers tremendously since he took the reins a few years back. And the big names appear here to stay.
"The Googles, the Goldman Sachses, the Coca-Colas — these are unbelievable companies that are now entering the sport and seeing how big and powerful our sport is," he said. Alphabet’s Google and Goldman joined McLaren last year as official sponsors, with Coke joining two years ago.
From McLaren’s end, even a somewhat uneven global macro environment hasn’t dissuaded corporate sponsorship.
"Not yet, and I keep saying not yet because I'm waiting for it to come," Brown joked. "I think the sport is doing so well, that the ‘good stuff in life’ seems to be – I don't want to say a recession proof because I don't want to jinx it – but we're not seeing it. Our numbers are up. We're a profitable Formula 1 team for the first time in about 10 years."
One of the big reasons why US sponsors are excited is, as mentioned above, the third race coming to the US — and that’s Vegas. And with the checkered flag dropping on a Saturday night (a first for F1 that usually races on Sunday), it’s going got be all eyes on the Strip.
"I think it's going to be probably the largest global sporting event in the world this year, I can't think of something that's going to be bigger," Brown said. "The excitement is going to be off the charts, and I can't wait to see everyone who shows up - it's going to be the celebrities, the athletes, the CEOs, and, of course, hundreds of thousands of fans."
Case in point — if you want to get tickets for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, you are out of luck — it’s sold out. The only tickets available are standing room, and special VIP packages that cost thousands of dollars.
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Pras Subramanian is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.
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