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Brown: McLaren has added more sponsors than any other team

19:15, 24 Aug 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

McLaren CEO Zak Brown says that the team has brought in more sponsors than any other team has in 2018. However he also acknowledged that the team had fallen short with its 2018 budget aims

Speaking to RaceFans, Brown said that he had hit his targets this season in terms of bringing sponsors to the team but that stickers on the side of the cars didn't necessarily dictate a good deal.

“Our performance hasn’t helped. And especially don’t forget this year you sell last year, so last year was one of the worst years.

“I’ve hit what I said I would do. And then we’ve got to keep growing it. The car has got lots of space, it started with lots of space. The companies we’ve put on have been outstanding: Dell Technologies, Petrobras, being high-quality entities, and we’re keeping pushing.

“There’s a perception that goes back 10, 20 years of stickers on the cars, which is that ‘We’ll equate the size of what the sticker on the car is to what we think the money is’. That just isn’t the case these days. And certainly not for us. Because the partnerships run a lot deeper than just straightforward a logo on the car.”

Brown added that although he has a background in bringing in sponsors to teams in motorsport, gaining new partners is a very difficult task in 2018 but added McLaren were doing just fine.

“Fortunately we’ve got very, very committed shareholders who also understand Formula One hasn’t really announced a sponsor. They’ve done some media. We haven’t seen a new trackside partner.

“Ferrari’s done one deal. Mercedes has traded one deal. So I think fortunately our shareholders and myself know that it’s not going to… it just doesn’t happen.

“I know that’s my background and therefore everyone is expecting every inch of the car to be sold. The reality is we have done five deals, put aside Kimoa. I haven’t seen another team do more than two. So we are deliberating.”