Autosportfoto

Zak Brown: Dennis recruited me to McLaren

McLaren's new boss Zak Brown says he was appointed by former head Ron Dennis before he was forced out of the company.

Last month, Brown was confirmed to be joining McLaren as new executive director and would work directly alongside chief operating officer Jonathan Neale in charge of its F1 and motorsport divisions.

Brown has been seen as the replacement for the ousted Dennis who was placed on gardening leave in his post as chairman and chief executive a week before the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with his contract not set to be renewed in January.

The American says it was Dennis who had been actively seeking to hire him at McLaren.

"Ron at the end of the day is the one who recruited me, the last couple of years he left the door open," Brown said. "He turned up the volume in pursuit of me. I wouldn't be talking to you right now if it wasn't for him."

Brown is looking forward to working closely with Neale as the pair hope to strike up a collaborative partnership effort with Neale focusing on the technical side and Brown using his experience on the commercial effort.

"I have more of a commercial background. Jonathan has a technical background," he said. "The collective efforts of running the F1 both commercial and motorsports operations.

"The two of us are working very closely together on the phone and we report to the executive committee, which is made up of Sheikh Mohammed and Mansour Ojjeh."

Brown has also stated his primary aim for McLaren is to secure a title sponsor after losing Vodafone at the end of the 2013 season with a replacement failing to surface in the past three years.

Brown has left his role in charge of sports marketing agency JMI and chose the McLaren position over working for F1's new owners Liberty Media.

McLaren finished the 2016 F1 world constructors' championship sixth overall, a marked improvement from last season on its opening year with Honda as power unit supplier, when the team struggled for performance and reliability to finish ninth. 

Zdroj: crash.net