It’s been three years now that McLaren has been running without a title sponsor. The team’s new executive director aims to change that, but it won’t happen before 2018.
Speaking with Motorsport.com (the website he helped found), Zak Brown said his top priority in his new position at McLaren will be to secure a title sponsor. It’ll take a lot of time and effort, though, so with the 2016 championship now completed and 2017 just around the corner, he doesn’t think it will happen before 2018 at the earliest.
McLaren has had a nearly unbroken line of title sponsors since that became a thing in the early 1970s. What was initially known as Bruce McLaren Motor Racing became Yardley Team McLaren in 1972, with sponsorship by the London cosmetics company, before Marlboro took over in 1974.
Marlboro remained McLaren’s title sponsor through 1996, after which rival tobacco brand West took its place through 2005. After tobacco sponsorship was banned, McLaren brought in Vodafone in 2007, forging a partnership that lasted through 2013. The team has been without a title sponsor since.
To secure one, Brown may have to convince the board to reduce its asking price – at which point he may be able to attract a new sponsor, or convince one of its existing ones to step up. The team is currently sponsored by Johnnie Walker, SAP, and GlaxoSmithKline, among others – many of which Brown brokered in his previous position as an independent motorsport marketing expert. But the team is tipped to be losing ExxonMobil – much as it did TAG Heuer, which recently extended its contract with Red Bull.
In related news, Banco do Brasil is reportedly ending its sponsorship of Felipe Nasr and the Sauber team for which he drives, and had hoped to continue driving next season. Sauber is one of only two teams that has yet to confirm its complete driver lineup for 2017, with Marcus Ericsson filling one seat but the other still up for grabs. Manor has yet to confirm either of its drivers.
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