As a former racing driver, Brown has plenty of experience of what it takes to get behind the wheel but he moved away from racing itself to focus on creating a mammoth media company, and then to take control at McLaren after the departure of Ron Dennis. During an acrimonious reshuffle, Brown took on the Executive Director role at the very end of the 2016 season.

Biography

Zak Brown began his racing career in a Formula Ford series in the UK, after leaving his US home to participate in European racing series. In 1995, he took part in British Formula Three, before moving to the German version of the same formula. He has also raced in the ALMS series, and created his own sports car team. At the same time as working on his driving skills, Brown created the company Just Marketing International to focus on aspects outside of the car as well.

He built the company to become hugely successful, and it was eventually sold to CSM Sport & Entertainment in 2013. He remained a chairman but resigned from his position towards the end of 2016 as another opportunity presented itself. Well known in the F1 paddock for having his finger in many pies, Brown was involved with driver management, PR and media, and of course marketing with various teams.

Towards the end of the season, Brown’s profile grew even further. At first, he was linked with a position for the incoming Formula One owners, Liberty Media, but gradually that speculation faded away and he was instead linked with McLaren. After the departure of Ron Dennis under something of a cloud, Brown confirmed he had accepted the position of Executive Director for McLaren Technology Group, focusing his expertise on the racing team and their marketing exploits. He started his role in December 2016.