Alonso lauds 'genius' Brown's leadership at McLaren

40

Fernando Alonso has been full of praise for McLaren executive director Zak Brown this week.

"He’s a very unique boss. He has this wider vision of motorsport, he’s a commercial genius," the two-time world champion said.

"I think he’s doing great things for the sport," he continued.

"He has helped McLaren tremendously over the past two years, and today he's not only helping McLaren but also motor racing in general.

"I completely share his vision. He’s not only my boss, he’s my friend as well."

Alonso was particularly grateful to Brown for backing his participation in motorsports outside Formula 1. McLaren arranged an entry for him in last year's Indianapolis 500.

And this month, Alonso will compete for Brown's United Autosport LMP2 team in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.

"I can do it because with Zak Brown and McLaren," Alonso explained. "They have maybe a different vision, a little bit more wide vision of motorsport. And I share that vision as well.

Fernando Alonso's weekend at Daytona in pictures

"We are expanding a little bit the McLaren brand as well in motorsport, and we try to do it together," he said, adding that other teams wouldn't be as supportive.

"I think for other drivers in Formula 1, it will be difficult to get that vision."

Even if they were, Alonso doubted that many drivers would be interested in diversifying.

"I do not think other Formula 1 drivers will try their stamina," he said. " There's one, Lance Stroll, who will also compete in the 24 Hours of Daytona, but I only seem him doing that.

"He loves the race and he's from Canada, where these races are certainly more rooted in the culture. "

"I do not think there will be more, because in Europe we have the habit of focusing on one championship."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.