Zak Brown

Hometown:
England
Status:
Associate

Started in karting, winning 22 races from ’86-’90. Moved to Formula Ford, then Benelux Open Lotus Series, finishing in top 10 in each race in’92, then fourth overall in series in ’93. Ran in Toyota Atlantic Series, British Formula 3. made his Indy Lights debut in ’95. Finished 2nd in GT2 in Daytona 24-Hour and 2nd in Sebring 12-Hour. Also ran ALMS in ’99 and ’00. Owner / driver, United Autosports, competing in both European series and GRAND-AM. Ran Audi R8 in ’11, finishing 3rd in Spa 24-Hour. Founder & CEO of Just Marketing International, which grew to become the largest motorsport marketing agency in the world. In 2013 JMI was acquired by CSM, a division of Chime Comm, Ltd., with Brown becoming the company’s CEO. He relinquished that post in the winter of 2016 to focus on his new responsibilities as executive director of Mclaren Technology Group, assuming the role of McLaren Racing’s CEO in 2018 with overall responsibility for the business, including strategic direction, operational performance, marketing and commercial development.

The 2023 McLaren Racing F1 team (L to R): Zak Brown, Lando Norris, the MCL60, Oscar Piastri and Andrea Stella. [RaceFans.net image]

Brown has an extensive stable of important racecars, in late 2023 acquiring stewardship of the McLaren MCL35M that Daniel Ricciardo drove to victory in the 2021 Italian Grand Prix, the marques most recent F1 victory and Brown’s first at the helm of the team. Other McLaren’s in Brown’s collection include Ayrton Senna’s 1991 Monaco Grand Prix-winning MP4/6, Mika Hakkinen’s British Grand Prix-winning MP4-16, and Lewis Hamilton’s 2012 MP4-27 that won the Italian and United States Grands Prix. Other non-Woking marques in Brown’s collection include the Mercedes W04 with which Lewis Hamilton won his first race for Mercedes in Hungary in 2013; several Williams, including Alan Jones’ Williams FW07B which he’s raced at Laguna Seca and Long Beach in recent years; and Jody Scheckter’s 1977 Argentine Grand Prix-winning Wolf WR1, the only car besides the Brawn BGP001 to win on its debut.

 

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