# Fan Favorite: McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown Talks Formula 1

An episode of [Bloomberg Hot Pursuit!](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1710787142), 26 Dec 2025, 26 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/4778f66f-5d19-456a-9820-b08f00dfd567/bc713c20-0a82-4204-97ab-b3bb00e2e096/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=42336c1a-f7c2-4898-885b-b08f00e0bb66

As a holiday present to our listeners we bring back one of our fan favorite episodes. McLaren Racing Chief Executive Officer Zak Brown joins Hannah Elliott and Matt Miller to discuss McLaren's ascendance this season in Formula 1, why Indy Car could use some tips from Liberty Media to help it expand. Plus, Brown suggests the Monaco Grand Prix could go away and F1 would be just fine without it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:02] Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio News. I'm Hannah Elliott and
[0:10] Speaker 1: I'm Matt Miller.
[0:11] Speaker 2: This is Hot Pursuit coming up on today's podcast.
[0:19] Speaker 3: We have a special gift Zach Brown. You may have
[0:21] Speaker 3: heard of him. He's in motorsport if you will.
[0:25] Speaker 2: He's a champion.
[0:26] Speaker 3: He's a champion, and you know, it's kind of nuts.
[0:28] Speaker 3: He's an American working for a British company.
[0:31] Speaker 2: And he's a car collector.
[0:33] Speaker 1: And he's a car collector, car guy, great driver himself.
[0:37] Speaker 2: And he's a boss. He's a CEO.
[0:39] Speaker 3: He's a boss. It's unbelievable.
[0:41] Speaker 1: Not only is he the boss of McLaren F one,
[0:44] Speaker 1: he's the boss of all of McLaren Racing, which is
[0:49] Speaker 1: a big, big job.
[0:50] Speaker 4: Yeah, he has to be at a lot of different
[0:52] Speaker 4: places at the same time. But the coolest part is
[0:57] Speaker 4: me and Hannah we're not even here.
[0:59] Speaker 2: We're recording this a week ahead of time.
[1:01] Speaker 3: We're coming to you from the future and the past.
[1:03] Speaker 4: So happy Boxing Day. This is a pre recorded episode
[1:07] Speaker 4: and it's meant as a special gift to Clarence who
[1:10] Speaker 4: emailed us Hot Pursuit at Bloomberg dot Net is our
[1:14] Speaker 4: email address. He emailed us and said, you guys should
[1:17] Speaker 4: have Zach Brown on.
[1:18] Speaker 3: So so here you go. We aim to please asking
[1:21] Speaker 3: you shall.
[1:21] Speaker 2: Receive Merry Christmas. Clarence.
[1:24] Speaker 1: I love talking to Zach Brown because he is articulate
[1:29] Speaker 1: and he is not so media trained that he's really boring.
[1:32] Speaker 3: He is, I think, Yeah.
[1:35] Speaker 1: He just speaks in straight lines, there's nobs. He answers
[1:40] Speaker 1: questions directly. It's a dream and he's a real Yeah,
[1:43] Speaker 1: he's a.
[1:44] Speaker 2: Real person, yes exactly.
[1:46] Speaker 3: And he's crazy.
[1:47] Speaker 1: It is crazy though, how chill he comes off when
[1:50] Speaker 1: you consider everything he's running and operating, yes, schedules, it's insane.
[1:56] Speaker 1: It's he's I mean, did you know that McLaren is
[1:59] Speaker 1: the only company to win the Indy five hundred twenty
[2:02] Speaker 1: four hour Lament and Monaco?
[2:05] Speaker 2: I did not know that.
[2:06] Speaker 4: Let's get over to Zach Brown, CEO of McLaren without
[2:10] Speaker 4: any further ado.
[2:11] Speaker 1: You know McLaren is the only team that competes in
[2:14] Speaker 1: Formula one IndyCar, Formula E. You've got Extreme E, you've
[2:17] Speaker 1: got esports. My big question for you is how do
[2:20] Speaker 1: you get.
[2:20] Speaker 3: It all done?
[2:22] Speaker 1: Can you give us some best practices for how this
[2:24] Speaker 1: is sustainable? For you. I know you just renewed your
[2:27] Speaker 1: contract until I think twenty thirty. How are you finding
[2:31] Speaker 1: your life sustainable and even joyful? I follow you on Instagram,
[2:36] Speaker 1: of course, and you've got you seem very well at
[2:40] Speaker 1: ease and like you're enjoying things. But I know you're
[2:42] Speaker 1: probably paddling furiously underneath everything.
[2:47] Speaker 5: It's all the above. First, I love my job.
[2:51] Speaker 6: I love McLaren, always have my favorite team growing up,
[2:55] Speaker 6: and it's a privilege to work for McLaren. So it's
[2:58] Speaker 6: a pretty pretty cool job. That's a great place to
[3:01] Speaker 6: start from. The travels brutal. I think the secret to success,
[3:06] Speaker 6: if you'd like, is having a great leadership team around me.
[3:10] Speaker 6: And each racing team is self sufficient, so the IndyCar
[3:13] Speaker 6: team isn't dependent upon the F one team isn't dependent
[3:16] Speaker 6: upon the former team. There's a lot of commercial centergies
[3:20] Speaker 6: opportunities for our employees sentergy, so there's a lot of synergies.
[3:24] Speaker 6: But they know the Formula one team here in Montreal
[3:27] Speaker 6: doesn't need anything from the IndyCar team, and the Indiecar
[3:30] Speaker 6: team doesn't need anything from the team Formula one, so
[3:33] Speaker 6: they can all run independently. The benefit is when you
[3:37] Speaker 6: put them all together for our commercial partners, for employee opportunities.
[3:43] Speaker 6: I'm kind of the only fool that flies around the
[3:46] Speaker 6: world trying to be in all places at one time.
[3:50] Speaker 5: But I love it.
[3:50] Speaker 6: It's what I've been doing my whole whole life. It
[3:53] Speaker 6: certainly has its days where you know, you can just
[3:55] Speaker 6: get tired, but I'm never tired of it. I just
[3:58] Speaker 6: sometimes lack sleep, but you know, I love being around
[4:03] Speaker 6: these racing teams. Fortunately, in the digital world we live in,
[4:07] Speaker 6: if I'm in the eighty five hundred, I've got my
[4:09] Speaker 6: double triple top secret Dell laptop like I am onm
[4:13] Speaker 6: pit walls, So I feel like I'm very connected to
[4:16] Speaker 6: the Formula One team, even if I'm not there. So
[4:19] Speaker 6: big organization, but we're in the racing business and it's
[4:22] Speaker 6: all running pretty smoothly.
[4:23] Speaker 2: By the way.
[4:24] Speaker 4: You have been at the Helm, not not only for
[4:27] Speaker 4: the resurgence of your team, but really for the resurgence
[4:31] Speaker 4: of the sport and racing. I mean, I read a
[4:34] Speaker 4: comment you were talking about the fact that Williams was
[4:37] Speaker 4: sold for one hundred and fifty million a few years back,
[4:40] Speaker 4: and now it's worth at least ten x and I
[4:43] Speaker 4: just think, you know, the popularity of this already incredibly
[4:46] Speaker 4: popular sport has grown so much in the last few years.
[4:49] Speaker 4: Is that all down to drive to survive or to
[4:52] Speaker 4: what do you attribute that?
[4:54] Speaker 6: I don't think it's all down to drive to survive,
[4:56] Speaker 6: but I think it's definitely played a big role. I
[4:58] Speaker 6: think what it's all down to is liberty and when
[5:01] Speaker 6: they acquired the sport, the way they've reshaped the sport
[5:06] Speaker 6: focus on the fan, get the teams to kind of
[5:10] Speaker 6: show that the fans behind the curtain, you know how
[5:12] Speaker 6: the sport works, which I think Netflix has played a
[5:14] Speaker 6: big role there. So I think where the credits do
[5:17] Speaker 6: is due to liberty. Netflix has certainly had its role
[5:20] Speaker 6: within that. But look at what's happened in North America.
[5:24] Speaker 6: We've gone from one race to three races and new
[5:26] Speaker 6: television partner Netflix got Brad Pitt movie. You know who
[5:29] Speaker 6: isn't going to watch the next Brad Pitt movie and
[5:32] Speaker 6: going to be Brad Pitt Formula one driver. So we've
[5:35] Speaker 6: brought in women to the sport, we brought a youth
[5:38] Speaker 6: to the sport. We've really made great strides and sustainability.
[5:43] Speaker 6: So I think you've got to look at what liberty
[5:45] Speaker 6: has done for the sport as a whole, and are
[5:47] Speaker 6: the participants in.
[5:49] Speaker 5: It the way we've embraced it.
[5:50] Speaker 6: And it took a little bit of time, you know,
[5:51] Speaker 6: when Netflix came out year one, Mercedes and Ferrari didn't participate,
[5:56] Speaker 6: which was a bit of old school thinking, you know,
[5:59] Speaker 6: we don't.
[5:59] Speaker 5: Want to show what's.
[6:00] Speaker 6: Buck behind the scenes, or the money's not great enough.
[6:03] Speaker 6: And I think what the sport has woken up to
[6:07] Speaker 6: and is embraced is let's focus on the fan and
[6:10] Speaker 6: then everything else will fall into place. And that's exactly
[6:13] Speaker 6: what we've done. And we have more fans than we've
[6:15] Speaker 6: ever had, more Grand Prix than we've ever had, ten
[6:18] Speaker 6: unbelievably healthy racing teams. So it's like everything is just green, green, green,
[6:24] Speaker 6: go go go right now in Form one. And to me,
[6:26] Speaker 6: what's really exciting is I don't see that trajectory going
[6:31] Speaker 6: anywhere other than North because the racing's getting even better
[6:36] Speaker 6: and the teams are healthier, and we have demand for
[6:38] Speaker 6: more Grand Prix than ever, so I think in many
[6:42] Speaker 6: ways we're just getting started.
[6:44] Speaker 1: Can there ever be too many Grand Prix in North America?
[6:47] Speaker 1: I mean we're at five, and there always seems to
[6:51] Speaker 1: be rumbling that there could be one in Chicago or
[6:53] Speaker 1: New York. You know, is there a critical mass so
[6:58] Speaker 1: to speak?
[7:00] Speaker 6: I think there is, and I think we're there now,
[7:03] Speaker 6: and I'll break that down for you. I think twenty
[7:05] Speaker 6: four races is the maximum we can do. It's a
[7:09] Speaker 6: brutal number. I'm put aside the fact that I would
[7:11] Speaker 6: go race fifty two times a year. I wouldn't be
[7:14] Speaker 6: very popular with my racing team if I was a
[7:16] Speaker 6: proponent of that. But I'm a little bit a petrol
[7:21] Speaker 6: in my blood, not that others don't. So twenty four,
[7:24] Speaker 6: I think is the max I think we need to.
[7:27] Speaker 6: I'd be an advocate of like twenty fixed races, an
[7:31] Speaker 6: eight that rotate every other year, so you maintain the
[7:34] Speaker 6: twenty four race schedule, but you continue to grow the
[7:37] Speaker 6: reach and the markets because the demand is there. Then
[7:40] Speaker 6: of course, who are those that get it every other year?
[7:44] Speaker 6: I think we're maximum capacity in America's you know three
[7:48] Speaker 6: in North three in the States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil.
[7:52] Speaker 5: That's awesome.
[7:53] Speaker 6: I don't think While I think the sport would embrace more,
[7:57] Speaker 6: I think that would come to the detriment of other
[8:01] Speaker 6: parts of the world. I'd love to see another race
[8:04] Speaker 6: or two in Asia. I'd love to see us in
[8:05] Speaker 6: South Africa, you know, et cetera. So I think the
[8:10] Speaker 6: sport and the fans would embrace more races. But I
[8:14] Speaker 6: think we're a global championship and we have some other
[8:17] Speaker 6: pockets of the world we need to work on. So
[8:19] Speaker 6: I think the only way you could bring in another
[8:21] Speaker 6: North American race is if that became part of a rotation.
[8:26] Speaker 6: Because again, I'd love to see us in Korea. I'd
[8:30] Speaker 6: love to see us in Thailand. We almost got into Vietnam.
[8:32] Speaker 6: I'd love South South Africa, some of these other territories
[8:36] Speaker 6: and uh to make sure that we continue to expand
[8:40] Speaker 6: our our global footprint.
[8:41] Speaker 5: India would be a great market to be in.
[8:44] Speaker 1: UH.
[8:44] Speaker 5: So, So I think we're in a good, good place
[8:46] Speaker 5: in America.
[8:47] Speaker 2: Can you bail on Monaco?
[8:48] Speaker 3: I was just gonna ask that that's what we are?
[8:51] Speaker 4: I mean, honestly, Zachy, can't they just do qualifying and
[8:54] Speaker 4: then go to a cocktail party?
[8:55] Speaker 5: Because could we bail on Monaco? We could?
[8:58] Speaker 6: You know, I think the sport is so strong and
[9:03] Speaker 6: we have so many awesome races, you know, could we
[9:07] Speaker 6: we could, should we will we? I don't think we
[9:12] Speaker 6: should and I don't think we will, but could we?
[9:15] Speaker 3: Yes, I think alternating years.
[9:18] Speaker 6: I mean, you know, certainly that could could fall into
[9:21] Speaker 6: that camp if you'd like. Uh, you know, the spectacle
[9:25] Speaker 6: is still amazing. The TV ratings are still very strong.
[9:29] Speaker 6: Of course, it isn't a you know, it's a pure race.
[9:34] Speaker 6: It has the least amount of passing, always has, always will.
[9:39] Speaker 6: I think, you know, the sport is commercially so strong
[9:42] Speaker 6: that you know, it's always kind of had one of
[9:45] Speaker 6: the more favorable uh terms and conditions. I think they
[9:50] Speaker 6: need to get caught up there because you know, we
[9:53] Speaker 6: are in a commercial sport, and one could argue, wait
[9:57] Speaker 6: a minute, some of these other venues are driving some
[10:00] Speaker 6: the TV ratings, you know, great racing and contributing a
[10:05] Speaker 6: lot more to the growth of the sport fiscally. You know,
[10:09] Speaker 6: you've got the Miamis, the Vegas Is, the Singapore's. I mean,
[10:12] Speaker 6: these are all awesome races.
[10:15] Speaker 5: So I'd be.
[10:17] Speaker 6: Surprised if it didn't stay on the calendar. But if
[10:19] Speaker 6: it went away, would it create a lot of noise
[10:22] Speaker 6: in the short term?
[10:23] Speaker 5: Yes? Would people move on and formula one be as
[10:28] Speaker 5: strong as ever. I think it would do.
[10:30] Speaker 4: You get more recognition in the US by far for
[10:34] Speaker 4: F one because Indy has been so exciting the last
[10:37] Speaker 4: few years. And when I was a kid in the
[10:40] Speaker 4: middle of America, people packed up RVs and went to
[10:43] Speaker 4: Indianapolis like it was the greatest spectacle in racing. But
[10:46] Speaker 4: it just seems like F one has eclipsed every other
[10:49] Speaker 4: league by far.
[10:51] Speaker 5: Formula one has done an amazing job. I think there
[10:55] Speaker 5: is a lot Indy Car could learn from Formula one.
[10:58] Speaker 6: I think there's a lot Formula one can can learn
[11:00] Speaker 6: from IndyCar. We can all learn from each other's sport,
[11:03] Speaker 6: but Formal one's done an unbelievable job. Yes, you know,
[11:08] Speaker 6: I do get a lot more commentary if you'd like,
[11:12] Speaker 6: when I'm in North America about Formula One than IndyCar.
[11:16] Speaker 5: I think there's a.
[11:17] Speaker 6: Tremendous amount of untapped potential in IndyCar, but we need
[11:22] Speaker 6: to pick up the pace. I think there's a lot
[11:24] Speaker 6: of opportunity, some of which were seizing and other areas
[11:28] Speaker 6: that we need to catch up on, and we need
[11:30] Speaker 6: to kind of throw it up a gear or two,
[11:35] Speaker 6: and I'm confident we will. But there's a lot of opportunity,
[11:38] Speaker 6: and I think we need to pick up the pace
[11:40] Speaker 6: because it wasn't long ago Formula One had no profile
[11:45] Speaker 6: in North America and now you know, we do have
[11:48] Speaker 6: to ask ourselves with our IndyCar had on put aside
[11:52] Speaker 6: Indy five hundred television ratings, why does Formula One have
[11:56] Speaker 6: greater television ratings than IndyCar in our home mark? Get
[12:00] Speaker 6: in awkward time zones where we only race a few
[12:04] Speaker 6: times a year, and I think that's a bit of
[12:06] Speaker 6: a wake up call. Is too we can be and
[12:10] Speaker 6: should be doing a better job because the racing and
[12:13] Speaker 6: the product is great. So we have to ask ourselves,
[12:16] Speaker 6: why is Miami and Monaco when, to your point, wasn't
[12:21] Speaker 6: the most exciting racing. Why is Monaco getting a bigger
[12:24] Speaker 6: television rating in our home market than all of our
[12:27] Speaker 6: other race is outside of the ND five hundred.
[12:30] Speaker 5: So I think it's a bit of a wake up call.
[12:38] Speaker 1: Are you saying that Indie needs a rebrand A complete
[12:44] Speaker 1: my branding?
[12:45] Speaker 6: I think there I wouldn't necessarily say rebranded. I think
[12:49] Speaker 6: we need to continue to really focus on the consumer.
[12:52] Speaker 6: I think there's a lot of room for improvement around
[12:55] Speaker 6: our digital experience, our outreach to the fans. I think
[13:02] Speaker 6: we could use a refresh of the product. Our racing
[13:06] Speaker 6: cars have been around for quite some time. I think, uh,
[13:10] Speaker 6: the calendar has room for improvement. So I think there's
[13:15] Speaker 6: lots of opportunity. We just need to seize it. I'm
[13:17] Speaker 6: confident we will. There's a lot of conversations going on around,
[13:21] Speaker 6: you know, freshening up the products. I don't think necessarily
[13:23] Speaker 6: needs a rebrand, but I need to.
[13:25] Speaker 5: I think it needs a refreshing. I mean, I think
[13:28] Speaker 5: we have to.
[13:28] Speaker 6: Be real when looking at the data and the statistics
[13:32] Speaker 6: and go, you know what, why does Formula one come
[13:35] Speaker 6: into our home market and not long ago had lesser
[13:38] Speaker 6: television ratings and now has greater television ratings. So I
[13:41] Speaker 6: think that uh, you know, you know, but I think
[13:44] Speaker 6: the good news is I think the product is great.
[13:46] Speaker 5: We just need to do a better job.
[13:47] Speaker 4: Roger Penske needs to call John alone.
[13:52] Speaker 5: I'll leave that to Roger and John. Well.
[13:54] Speaker 3: I'm curious.
[13:55] Speaker 1: You know, it is ironic that an American company, Liberty
[13:59] Speaker 1: Media is the is, like you said, sort of the
[14:02] Speaker 1: catalyst to launching Formula one in the US and really
[14:07] Speaker 1: making it acceptable to American consumers. That just seems ironic.
[14:13] Speaker 1: Does it take an American sensibility to translate some of
[14:17] Speaker 1: these at least European style raising obviously.
[14:21] Speaker 4: So glad they bought MotoGP Yeah, which is already amazing.
[14:24] Speaker 5: Yeah.
[14:24] Speaker 6: I think they're gonna do great with Moto GP. I
[14:27] Speaker 6: think the you know, and you never want to kind
[14:29] Speaker 6: of stereotype region.
[14:31] Speaker 1: Sure.
[14:31] Speaker 6: I think we've got to give a lot of credit
[14:33] Speaker 6: to Austin Coda. They did a fantastic job during and
[14:37] Speaker 6: Formula one back, and then it's just built on itself,
[14:39] Speaker 6: and you know, you need date equity. People need to
[14:42] Speaker 6: get familiar with the drivers. And I think what Netflix did,
[14:45] Speaker 6: especially in North America, is kind of lift the cover
[14:48] Speaker 6: off of how does the sport work, and the personalities.
[14:52] Speaker 5: And the drama and the politics.
[14:54] Speaker 6: And I think, you know, the American fan really likes
[14:58] Speaker 6: to get personal with the their sport, and I think
[15:02] Speaker 6: Formula One historically pre Liberty, been a little bit of
[15:07] Speaker 6: a look but don't touch type of sport, and now
[15:12] Speaker 6: it's a let us get to know these twenty awesome
[15:15] Speaker 6: racing drivers and the team bosses, the man. I think
[15:18] Speaker 6: fans around the world and I think the reason why
[15:21] Speaker 6: it's had such a big impact in America is I
[15:23] Speaker 6: think it's always been big in Europe and understood, but
[15:28] Speaker 6: it was kind of like a fresh sport to America
[15:32] Speaker 6: and Netflix helped kind of put that front and center
[15:36] Speaker 6: and people have responded and it's been great. I get
[15:39] Speaker 6: more commentary now from people in America that.
[15:43] Speaker 5: Go, and it'll be.
[15:45] Speaker 6: A guy, a father, a husband, and I can't tell
[15:49] Speaker 6: you often he goes. My daughter loves Form and my
[15:51] Speaker 6: daughter loves Lando Norris or my wife won't stop watching it.
[15:55] Speaker 6: And what it's done is it's taken, which is I
[15:58] Speaker 6: think been the most amazing part.
[16:00] Speaker 5: It's taking people.
[16:00] Speaker 6: From having no awareness to avid fan overnight. I hear
[16:04] Speaker 6: so often I won't miss a Grand Prix now versus
[16:08] Speaker 6: I'm aware and I kind of like it. They're like
[16:10] Speaker 6: diehard fans. So it's been amazing and we just need
[16:13] Speaker 6: to continue to build on that.
[16:14] Speaker 4: Does it make a difference to your sales, Zach, I mean,
[16:17] Speaker 4: especially as you guys have started on a winning run lately,
[16:22] Speaker 4: are you is it possible to sell more McLaren's.
[16:25] Speaker 7: Went on Sunday, Yeah, definitely, Yeah, exactly A good old
[16:28] Speaker 7: phrase it doesn't quite work that easily. We don't see
[16:31] Speaker 7: necessarily big spikes on Monday, but you can see the
[16:34] Speaker 7: North America is our biggest, biggest market for our automotive
[16:37] Speaker 7: business and continues to grow.
[16:40] Speaker 6: And you can see how many McLaren automotive fans or
[16:44] Speaker 6: fans of the Formula One team and vice versa. So
[16:47] Speaker 6: we're fortunate, like a few others in the sport, where
[16:50] Speaker 6: we've got these two awesome brands in the world to
[16:52] Speaker 6: collide and we help scratch each other's back.
[16:56] Speaker 1: If you like, what do you drive?
[16:58] Speaker 2: Yeah? Do you what do you like to drive?
[17:00] Speaker 6: Well, my daily driver is a bit more of a
[17:03] Speaker 6: range rover because it's not the easiest place in the
[17:04] Speaker 6: world to navigate. Of course, I've got my McLaren's in
[17:07] Speaker 6: the garage. But I'm a I'm a car junkie. So
[17:10] Speaker 6: if your name is sports car, I've got one of those.
[17:13] Speaker 3: Can you collect too, right? Memorabilia? Sports memorabilia.
[17:17] Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm a big baseball fan, ice hockey fan as
[17:21] Speaker 6: far as collecting collectible documents, so I've got a.
[17:25] Speaker 5: Pretty awesome collection. It's all my childhood.
[17:30] Speaker 6: Dreams and I wanted to be a baseball player an
[17:32] Speaker 6: ice hockey player didn't quite work out, but I'm fortunate
[17:35] Speaker 6: now a lot of baseball players, hockey players, golfers, or
[17:39] Speaker 6: fans of the sport, So it's a it's a privilege
[17:43] Speaker 6: being in the position I'm in to be able to
[17:45] Speaker 6: meet a lot of my heroes and idols growing up.
[17:49] Speaker 6: I don't think they quite realize it, because I think
[17:51] Speaker 6: they're equally as excited to kind of come to a
[17:54] Speaker 6: Formula One race, But it's it's pretty cool having Albert
[17:57] Speaker 6: PUOs and Paul Goldschmidt and Timo Solani and as I mentioned,
[18:02] Speaker 6: I'm when I have dinner with Mark Messier, who I've
[18:04] Speaker 6: not met through a mutual friend, which I'm very excited
[18:07] Speaker 6: because I grew up watching Mark. He's an awesome player,
[18:11] Speaker 6: and so excited to meet him. It makes me feel
[18:14] Speaker 6: like I'm thirteen fourteen again, even though they probably don't
[18:16] Speaker 6: appreciate that.
[18:17] Speaker 5: Dating them now, I want.
[18:19] Speaker 1: To ask, I see you drinking something out of a
[18:21] Speaker 1: tea cup. I imagine it's tea. How has it been
[18:25] Speaker 1: as an American living in the UK?
[18:27] Speaker 3: You know, do you remind.
[18:29] Speaker 1: Yourself adjusting to quirky British lifestyles?
[18:33] Speaker 5: Yeah? One hundred percent.
[18:36] Speaker 6: But you know, back when I was racing, I lived
[18:38] Speaker 6: in England, so I live there from ninety one to
[18:40] Speaker 6: ninety four.
[18:41] Speaker 5: I've been there now, it's about twelve years.
[18:44] Speaker 6: I love Europe, love England, I love traveling, always been
[18:49] Speaker 6: a fan of it. I definitely think I've picked up
[18:51] Speaker 6: some of the the quirks, if you'd like to call
[18:55] Speaker 6: him that, But I haven't left my American ones behind
[18:58] Speaker 6: it all.
[18:59] Speaker 5: So I'm a bit of a now.
[19:01] Speaker 6: No one can quite figure out my accent or but
[19:05] Speaker 6: still kind of sounds the same to me.
[19:06] Speaker 4: By the way, when I'm looking through bring a trailer,
[19:08] Speaker 4: which is like an addiction for me. It annoys me
[19:11] Speaker 4: when I see a right hand drive car that I
[19:12] Speaker 4: want because it's just it's just wrong. Do you buy
[19:16] Speaker 4: right hand drive cars? I mean for your car, I
[19:19] Speaker 4: got a.
[19:19] Speaker 5: Bit of everything.
[19:20] Speaker 6: I mean, if I have a choice, then I'm buying
[19:23] Speaker 6: a left hand drive. But I have both in the
[19:27] Speaker 6: in the collection. It kind of depends. If it's a
[19:29] Speaker 6: British car, you're gonna end up with a right hand drive,
[19:32] Speaker 6: you know, as it should be about plenty of left
[19:35] Speaker 6: hand drive.
[19:36] Speaker 5: I'd say I'm probably three corps.
[19:38] Speaker 4: When you want a car. Do you know what you
[19:39] Speaker 4: want and find it, or do you look around and
[19:42] Speaker 4: something strikes your fancy and you're like, oh, I like that.
[19:45] Speaker 5: It kind of.
[19:46] Speaker 6: Depends if it's a road car, if it's a race car.
[19:47] Speaker 6: If it's a road car, I know what I want.
[19:49] Speaker 6: I kind of know where to go. I've got a
[19:51] Speaker 6: few dealer friends. If you like that, will will sort
[19:55] Speaker 6: me out. If it's a race car, you can either
[19:59] Speaker 6: kind of react. So one that I'd been chasing for
[20:02] Speaker 6: years was Nigel Mansell's Indy Championship car from nineteen ninety three.
[20:09] Speaker 6: Never had any success, and then Newman Hass put it
[20:12] Speaker 6: up for auction and I was all over that. So
[20:15] Speaker 6: the race cars, you kind of know what you want,
[20:18] Speaker 6: but they're not necessarily always for sales, So sometimes it's
[20:22] Speaker 6: reacting when you see something that comes on the market.
[20:26] Speaker 1: Do you think the price goes up when people realize
[20:30] Speaker 1: who they're selling to, or do you try to keep
[20:33] Speaker 1: it a little anonymous if you're interested.
[20:38] Speaker 6: It kind of depends who it is and what it is.
[20:41] Speaker 6: You know, you meant to bring a trailer. That was
[20:43] Speaker 6: one where I hid.
[20:46] Speaker 3: You know, tell us your handles.
[20:50] Speaker 6: I had a friend do it for me a buddy
[20:52] Speaker 6: named Allan where McLaren's motor home from nineteen seventy two,
[20:58] Speaker 6: and I bought this a few years ago, and I
[21:00] Speaker 6: think at one auction story of the year where it
[21:04] Speaker 6: was McLaren's nineteen seventy two motor home.
[21:07] Speaker 5: It was awesome, a Ford Condor, and I.
[21:11] Speaker 6: Was like, I definitely have to have this, but I
[21:14] Speaker 6: don't want anyone to know who's bidding for it. And
[21:18] Speaker 6: the owner had had it for quite some time, so
[21:21] Speaker 6: I had my buddy bid. He won it, and then
[21:25] Speaker 6: everyone it was quite a little bit of a bidding war,
[21:27] Speaker 6: and then my buddy said, well, you're an never going
[21:30] Speaker 6: to outbid the CEO of McLaren And then everyone just
[21:35] Speaker 6: went nuts, including the owner, who had a bit of
[21:38] Speaker 6: a tiary moment because he had it for quite some time.
[21:41] Speaker 6: He wanted to go to the right home and you know,
[21:44] Speaker 6: no one knew and that and became quite a cool story.
[21:49] Speaker 6: And I love sharing the history of the sport with everyone.
[21:53] Speaker 6: I'm happy to share that I'm the biggest fan of
[21:57] Speaker 6: motorsports and the history of the sports. I feel like
[22:01] Speaker 6: it's part of my role. I remember what an impression
[22:04] Speaker 6: when I went to the Long Beach Grand Prix in
[22:06] Speaker 6: nineteen eighty one. It made on me as a ten
[22:08] Speaker 6: year old, and so I feel part of my role
[22:12] Speaker 6: at McLaren is to share how cool this sport is.
[22:16] Speaker 5: With the fans.
[22:17] Speaker 6: So I'm always stopping and talking to them, happy to
[22:20] Speaker 6: share these stories. And when you get into the car
[22:23] Speaker 6: collection and things of that nature, you know, while I
[22:27] Speaker 6: have them in my racing facility, we get them out.
[22:31] Speaker 6: I like to share them, like to tell people the
[22:33] Speaker 6: stories because I know what an impression it made on me,
[22:35] Speaker 6: and I hope that someone you know, ten twenty thirty
[22:40] Speaker 6: years from now goes.
[22:41] Speaker 5: I remember meeting Zach and it was cool.
[22:43] Speaker 6: He let me look at the car, He introduced me
[22:44] Speaker 6: to Lando, He stopped and talk to me, because that's
[22:46] Speaker 6: what our sport is about.
[22:47] Speaker 5: It's about the fans.
[22:49] Speaker 4: By the way, on that note, do you and you
[22:51] Speaker 4: mentioned bringing more women in the sport, and Hannah and
[22:54] Speaker 4: I talk a lot about the academy and trying to
[22:57] Speaker 4: get more women to drive. How do you who groom
[23:01] Speaker 4: young talent? Do you have specific programs for that? When
[23:06] Speaker 4: you're talking to little girls and boys, do you say, hey,
[23:09] Speaker 4: you guys should try doing some laps in the go cart.
[23:11] Speaker 2: I mean, how does that work?
[23:13] Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, one, it's about creating awareness so people
[23:18] Speaker 6: you want to get involved in motorsports. Obviously the driving
[23:23] Speaker 6: is the most famous part, but you know it's important
[23:26] Speaker 6: to us to get young boys and girls involved in
[23:29] Speaker 6: all aspects of the sport, whether they want to be
[23:31] Speaker 6: engineers or marketeers or racing drivers, whatever the case may be.
[23:37] Speaker 6: So a lot of it is about just creating awareness
[23:40] Speaker 6: so there's excitement to participate. And then it's about creating opportunity,
[23:45] Speaker 6: so we have we just announced a program called sixty Scholars.
[23:49] Speaker 6: Last year was our sixty year birthday and it was
[23:54] Speaker 6: sixty opportunities for young women ages eighteen to twenty three
[23:59] Speaker 6: to get involved with McLaren around STEM. So we're just
[24:04] Speaker 6: trying to create awareness opportunity. It's why we got involved
[24:07] Speaker 6: in extremely where you have a male and female racing driver.
[24:11] Speaker 5: So we had, for the first.
[24:12] Speaker 6: Ever time a couple of years ago announced first ever
[24:15] Speaker 6: female McLaren racing driver. We've extended that to the F
[24:19] Speaker 6: one Academy, which is an all female racing series. So
[24:22] Speaker 6: we're doing everything we can to create awareness, create opportunity
[24:27] Speaker 6: to have a more diverse workforce and fan base and
[24:32] Speaker 6: it's exciting.
[24:34] Speaker 1: So that was Zach Brown, and wow, what a treat
[24:37] Speaker 1: to have him. He always says something that is new
[24:41] Speaker 1: or interesting or just sort of changes how I understand
[24:46] Speaker 1: racing an American car culture.
[24:48] Speaker 3: I really he's great.
[24:50] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[24:50] Speaker 4: I mean, for example, the fact that F one could
[24:55] Speaker 4: possibly go without Monaco. He made me kind of understand
[24:58] Speaker 4: that in a way that I haven't and thinking about
[25:00] Speaker 4: the last few weeks, like not that they don't want
[25:02] Speaker 4: to and he doesn't think they will, but they could
[25:04] Speaker 4: survive because they're strong enough that they don't need it.
[25:08] Speaker 3: That does it for this week's show.
[25:09] Speaker 1: Remember to follow and subscribe to Hot Pursuit on Apple, Spotify,
[25:13] Speaker 1: and anywhere else you listen. You can also send us
[25:15] Speaker 1: your comments. Email us at hot Pursuit at bloomberg dot net.
[25:19] Speaker 4: Check out Hannah's columns and stories on Bloomberg dot com
[25:22] Speaker 4: and the Bloomberg Business app. Go there for car reviews,
[25:25] Speaker 4: events and stories that you won't find anywhere else. Find
[25:27] Speaker 4: it all at Bloomberg dot com, slash Pursuit, slash Autos.
[25:30] Speaker 2: I'm Matt Miller and
[25:32] Speaker 1: I'm Hannah Elliott will be back in your podcast feed
[25:34] Speaker 1: again next week,

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