Fernando Alonso expects the Indy 500 and a return to Le Mans to be a part of Executive Director Zak Brown’s long-term vision for McLaren.
The American has tried to reinvigorate the Woking-based team from a commercial perspective since his arrival last November, even if poor results on the track have arguably hurt their marketability.
Certainly, the return of an orange livery and to Indianapolis for the first time in 38 years is a far cry from the corporate, almost Germanic approach of Brown’s predecessor, Ron Dennis.
“I think they are very different and I think there is a not a magic solution, or a magic way to lead a team to success,” Alonso said when comparing the two men’s styles.
“I think Ron had a fantastic time in the past in McLaren with a lot of success. And now with Zak, things are a little bit more open, inside the team but also for you guys, outside, how you can approach McLaren now is different, on the commercial side, also in a technical side.
“I think also with Zak the biggest difference is the vision and the approach for the brand, for McLaren, which is a little bit different and wants to span the McLaren in different worlds and different categories.”
Indeed, Alonso only sees this year’s Indianapolis tie-up as the start to Brown’s efforts to make McLaren one of the biggest names in motorsport and high-performance cars.
“We’ll see with the Indy 500, I think it is not only this year. I think McLaren will be in the Indy 500 for the future,” the Spaniard claimed.
“I think McLaren will be in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the future, as they were in the past, when they won the Indy 500, when they won Le Mans.
“So that’s the biggest change we can feel inside McLaren, that Zak will not only concentrate in F1, will concentrate in McLaren as a race team in different series and the most important thing is obviously to sell cars.
“To sell the McLaren cars you need to open to new markets and especially the US market is probably the biggest one,” he added.
