(Motorsport-Total.com) – McLaren CEO Zak Brown admitted that missing the qualification for the Indianapolis 500 with two-time Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso in 2019 is one of the toughest moments of his career.
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The attempt by the traditional team from Woking to compete together with Alonso at the famous race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway ended surprisingly with failure to qualify. During the Autosport Business Exchange Miami event, Brown openly talks about this experience and the lessons learned, which ultimately also shaped McLaren’s later re-entry into the IndyCar series.
“Worst experience” in the spotlight
“Especially in the early days, there were big obstacles,” Brown admits in retrospect. “When I started my company, there were many moments when if the check didn’t come on Thursday, salaries couldn’t be paid on Friday. You have to have a ‘Never give up, failure is not an option’ attitude.”
Brown emphasizes that mistakes have been an important part of his career: “I have made many mistakes along the way, and that’s okay with me. I always tell the team, mistakes are okay, just don’t make them twice. Because you learn from mistakes.”
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However, the failure in Indianapolis was particularly public: “Probably my biggest, most public mistake, because there were many, was missing the qualification for the Indianapolis 500 with Fernando Alonso, which at that time was the worst experience of my life.”
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Taking responsibility and learning lessons
Instead of distancing himself from the defeat, Brown took responsibility for the organizational shortcomings in the team. “But I am very proud of what sounds strange, but that’s because of how we dealt with it and learned from it,” he continues. “
I took responsibility. At the end of the day, it was my fault because I didn’t have the right building blocks and the right people in the right places. I didn’t trust my instinct and didn’t implement all the things I usually preach myself.”
Looking back, Brown even sees the event as an important turning point: “I’m glad it happened because I won’t make that mistake again. Since then, we have finished second twice at the Indianapolis 500 and have been in the fight for the lead.”
“In motorsport, you get back in”
Brown also addresses the reactions after the failure: “I remember some saying after missing qualification: ‘So, are you done now?’ And I said: ‘No, no, no. In motorsport, you fix the car after a crash, analyze the cause, and get back in.’ That’s exactly what you do in motorsport. That was definitely a big, public moment.”
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