McLaren are considering a Formula E entry once its ban on competing in the series comes to an end in 2022, McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown has revealed.
The British Formula 1 team has been barred from competing in the all-electric series because it has supplied the battery system to the Gen2 car since 2018. That deal comes to an end for Formula E’s ninth season when a new Gen3 car is introduced.
Williams Advanced Engineering won the tender to supply the next generation of battery, meaning McLaren are free to compete in the championship, which Brown says is being considered as an option.
“We’ve been precluded from competing in Formula E because we were the battery supplier, so within that FIA tender, we’re not allowed to compete as a team,” Brown is quoted as saying by Autosport.
“With the new generation car coming in 2023, and us no longer being the exclusive battery supplier, that’s a racing series that we find very interesting – that’s something that we are starting to look at more closely.”
McLaren Racing has looked to expand its involvement in other series beyond F1, recently joining IndyCar and has also expressed an interest in WEC’s new hypercar class, but Brown is confident the expansion won’t impact its competitiveness in either series.
“Those two series have our attention, and we want to get through this season, we want to make sure that anything we do is not a distraction to our Formula 1 efforts,” added Brown.
“The same criteria [apply to other series] that we have in IndyCar: do we think we can be competitive? Do we think it’s commercially and fiscally sustainable? Do we think it fits our brand?
“I think both those series [WEC and Formula E] tick all those boxes, so it’s all about layering them in from a timing perspective, if we’re going to do either.”
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