--- title: How Zak Brown Fueled McLaren’s Rise description: As CEO of McLaren Racing, Zak Brown is tasked with putting both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the best position to win. canonical: https://time.com/collections/time100-impact-awards/7335833/zak-brown-mclaren-racing-ceo-f1/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-12-02T14:39:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T01:03:33.319Z article:section: Sports og:title: How Zak Brown Fueled McLaren’s Rise og:description: As CEO of McLaren Racing, Brown is tasked with putting his drivers in the best position to win. og:url: https://time.com/collections/time100-impact-awards/7335833/zak-brown-mclaren-racing-ceo-f1/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff8b7e03f1d90809/6998cc0c25f3ee7290645383/ZBrown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: How Zak Brown Fueled McLaren’s Rise og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How Zak Brown Fueled McLaren’s Rise twitter:description: As CEO of McLaren Racing, Brown is tasked with putting his drivers in the best position to win. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltff8b7e03f1d90809/6998cc0c25f3ee7290645383/ZBrown.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Dec 02, 2025 # How Zak Brown Fueled McLaren’s Rise > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Sean Gregory](https://time.com/author/sean-gregory/) ## Sean Gregory Senior Correspondent  ©Icon Sportswire All Rights Reserved Zak Brown can’t play favorites. As CEO of McLaren Racing, Brown is tasked with putting both of the drivers on his Formula One team—[Lando Norris](https://x.com/LandoNorris?lang=en) and [Oscar Piastri](https://oscarpiastri.com/)—in the best position to win. But in early November, with Norris and Piastri in first- and second-place in the standings, separated by a single point, I _had_ to ask Brown which of his two drivers he preferred to win the 2025 championship. Journalistic duty. And who knows, maybe Brown will slip, creating worldwide headlines. Fat chance. “The one with the most points,” says[ Brown](https://time.com/7177611/mclaren-racing-ceo-zak-brown-interview/), 54\. Spoken like a true diplomat. Going into the last race of this season, on Dec. 7 in Abu Dhabi, that driver could be Norris. He leads Max Verstappen, the reigning four-time champ, by a dozen points, and Piastri by 16\. Norris won the Nov. 9 Brazilian Grand Prix, but Verstappen—unwilling to give up his title without creating some last-weekend drama—topped the podium in Las Vegas and Qatar, and is charging. Norris remains in strong position to win his first-ever drivers title. But as Brown well knows, in a sport where cars race wheel-to-wheel at 200 miles per hour, unpredictable things can happen. No matter the final result, Brown has helped deliver another banner year for McLaren. The team won its second straight constuctors’ championship—given to the top-performing team—in 2025, guaranteeing that McLaren fans wouldn’t have to suffer through another 26-year drought between team titles: the gap between McLaren’s 1998 and 2024 championships was the longest in F1 history. Since taking over as CEO in 2018, Brown has helped restore McLaren’s status as an F1 blue-blood, with its recent success ending a Red Bull run of dominance that threatened to sap drama from the sport. Brown promoted Andrea Stella to the team principal role in 2022, and together they hired key personnel that aced F1’s technical tests, and paired two talented drivers, Norris and Piastri, together who pushed each other to be their best. Brown built a culture around transparency and communication which allowed the team to gel. The rise of McLaren, whose sponsors include the likes of Google, Mastercard and Cisco, has contributed to the continued F1 juggernaut: Formula One generated $433 million in operating income through the first nine months of 2025, up 18% from the same period a year ago. The sport is adding an eleventh team—U.S.-based Cadillac—to the grid next season. Brown will admit that he hopes if, say, Norris wins this year, Piastri gets his title next year. “That's just because I want both drivers to be world champions,” says Brown. “I'm not going to do anything differently to help the guy who didn't win it this year win it next year. That’s up to them.” Often, F1 teammates in tight races spar with one another, creating divisiveness and an uncomfortable working environment. McLaren’s culture and the temperaments of its drivers have allowed the team to avoid this trap. Brown insists he hasn’t sensed tension between Norris and Piastri. “There’s been none of that,” says Brown. “The only debates we've had is between us and the drivers, not between the drivers.” Threats to McLaren’s supremacy abound, particularly new technical regulations that go into effect next year. “It’s a clean sheet of paper,” says Brown. “With new rules, someone's going to get it more right than you anticipated. Someone's going to get it more wrong. So there's general risk there.” The 2026 cars will be lighter and smaller, with new mechanisms to increase speed through corners and straightaways. Also, Brown is cognizant that McLaren talent is in demand. McLaren poached Rob Marshall, the team's current chief designer, away from Red Bull in 2024, after that team’s dominant stretch. Now, other teams likely have their eyes on McLaren personnel. “Myself and the leadership team need to create an environment that gets people to not be interested in those phone calls,” says Brown. “Because I can't stop those phone calls from happening.” McLaren’s achievements all feel surreal for Brown, a native Californian now based in the U.K., where the team is headquartered. He used winnings from a [1984 appearance on _Wheel of Fortune_ ](https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5837350/2024/10/14/zak-brown-f1-mclaren-wheel-of-fortune/)to purchase his first go-kart and jumpstart his racing career. “I can't take credit for designing anything,” says Brown. “I can't take credit for driving any race cars. I can't take credit for any pit stops. What I can take credit for is assembling the team and helping contribute to the motivation and culture to get them to do magical things.” _This profile is published as a part of TIME’s TIME100 Impact Awards initiative, which recognizes leaders from across the world who are driving change in their communities. 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