The team that won the constructors’ championship in 2024, McLaren F1, could well have gone bankrupt in 2020: that, in short, is the stressful but stunning fate of the orange team over the past four years.
Indeed, after abandoning Honda, accumulating debts, and losing a number of revenues due to the Covid pandemic, McLaren F1 found itself in an almost desperate situation in 2020.
To save it, the firefighter had to arrive: a firefighter named Mumtalakat, the Bahraini sovereign wealth fund that owns the McLaren Group. Followed by another, the American company MSP Capital (£185 million invested, 15% stake then 33% in 2022).
But this episode left after-effects: at the same time, McLaren F1 still had to sell its Woking headquarters (to become a tenant, still today).
Zak Brown, the CEO of McLaren Racing, therefore inherited a team that was almost bankrupt in 2021… a team that he propelled as the most ‘bankable’ team four years later.
Thinking back to 2024, it is therefore 2020 that he is also thinking about to measure how far he has come.
“We were definitely on the brink” Zak Brown remembered.
“We paid all our bills. But we were a few months, not several months, away from… We knew we could finish the year, but we were in a situation where, without an infusion of cash, we might not be able to start 2021. »
“I have always been confident that shareholders would never let things go this far. But it was also clear that we needed this investment. »
“I could lay my head on the pillow at night knowing that they [les actionnaires] would support us if necessary. But that would have been at the last moment, to use a baseball term, before they called up the relief pitcher. »
In 2020, McLaren F1 almost disappeared, and the McLaren group with it: discussions on a possible insolvency of the parent company were underway. McLaren Group could also have sold its majority stake in McLaren Racing, in order to save its skin, remembers Zak Brown.
“At the end of the day, we were fighting for our survival. »
“Without MSP’s investment, we might not be here today…”
“Now we are extremely healthy. We just bought an IndyCar team, and we started an Extreme E team.”
“It was pretty serious…” he also remembered in other recent statements.
“We were in a situation where the racing team was performing well, but I knew very well what financial challenges we were facing at a group level, which were falling on Racing. »
“Even though our results on the grid were good, I knew, as did my management team and the shareholders, how fragile we were. »
“Trying to find the balance between being at full throttle and fighting for survival at the same time without the world knowing, even though the media was talking about it and the situation was getting closer and closer, was a period very stressful. »
“Now that we’ve gotten through this, it’s very rewarding and very motivating, and it’s made the team stronger because I think everyone now kind of knows, and it’s given everyone a boost of energy that we could survive this ordeal. »
” What does not kill you makes you stronger. »
Zak Brown kept all this information secret, so as not to scare the team, observers and other investors…
“I didn’t want the race team to lose focus and momentum because of something beyond their control. »
A crisis now erased?
Is the crisis forgotten today at McLaren F1… or even on the roof of the world, is the team still paying for the damage in terms of underinvestment, for example?
“We have regained the level of resources that we knew at McLaren. »
“We are now part of the big four in tax terms [avec Mercedes, Ferrari et Red Bull] When I started, it drove me crazy, we were talking about the big three, the big three, the big three. »
“And it felt like the McLaren I knew growing up was the big one!” Or it was us and Ferrari. »
“I can safely say that while we have some catching up to do with all of our technology, there are no resources that the other three don’t have. »
Related News :