McLaren CEO Zak Brown has identified Fernando Alonso’s failure to qualify for the Indy 500 with the team as “the worst experience of my life.”
The Woking-based outfit has firmly established itself back on the IndyCar map since returning full-time in 2020, having previously won the 500 twice in the 1970s.
Alonso was handed the chance to conquer the famous Motor Speedway in 2017, retiring from the race amid handing his F1 seat to Jenson Button for a one-off reappearance in Monaco.
In 2019, the Spaniard suffered an even worse fate, failing to qualify for the race after suffering electrical issues which truncated his running.
Motorsport Week was in attendance at the Autosport Business Exchange in Miami during last week’s Grand Prix weekend, and Brown, speaking at the event, spoke of the struggles in his early days running the McLaren brand.
“Especially in the early days, big obstacles,” he said. “When I started my company, there were many times if the cheque didn’t show up on Thursday, payroll wasn’t going on Friday.
“You have to have a ‘never quit, failure is not an option’ attitude.
“I made a lot of mistakes along the way, and I’m fine with that. I always say to the team, mistakes are OK, just don’t make the same one twice. Because you learn from mistakes.
“Probably my biggest, most public one – because there’s been a lot, but the most public one was not qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 with Fernando Alonso, which at the time was the worst experience of my life.”
Brown ‘owns’ Fernando Alonso Indy woe
Brown was happy to take responsibility for the two-time World Champion’s failure to qualify on that occasion, and acknowledge the big progress the Arrow McLaren team has made since then, placing itself firmly in the right end of the IndyCar field.
“But I’m very proud of it, which sounds strange, but it’s because of how we leaned in, we learned from it,” he said.
“I owned it. It was, at the end of the day, my fault because I didn’t get the right pieces in place, the right people in place. I didn’t trust my instinct; all the things that I kind of preach, I let myself down on.
“So, I’m glad it happened because I won’t let that mistake happen again. Since then, we’ve finished second twice at the Indy 500, and we’ve crashed going for the lead.
“I remember when we didn’t qualify, some people said, ‘Right, so you’re done now?’ I was like, ‘No, no, no, no. In racing, when you crash, you repair the car, you understand why you crashed, and you get right back in.’ That’s what you do in racing. So, that was certainly a big public one.”
The Indy 500 continues to be the one third of the ‘Triple Crown’ of motor racing that Alonso is yet to win. Would he be tempted to have another go?
READ MORE – Ford confirms Max Verstappen talks for future Le Mans entry
Discussion about this post