Success of McLaren film was hinged on exposing the truth - Brown

McLaren's Zak Brown says that Amazon's documentary on the team's troubled 2017 campaign could have only gone for an authentic and truthful approach to garner interest.

The Grand Prix Driver four-part series, streamed exclusively on Amazon, centers around McLaren's agonizing 2017 campaign, with a particular focus on the drama which unfolded with engine partner Honda.

The documentary's film crew was allowed unprecedented access to the Woking-based outfit's inner workings and off-limit areas, offering the viewer a fascinating vantage point from which to watch the troubled tribulations of F1's second most successful team.

For Brown, the film proves the sport needs to bring its fans closer to the action, but also to what goes on behind the scenes.

"I think more people need to see what goes on in our garage, more people need to see what goes on here [at the factory] because it is quite fascinating," said the McLaren boss, who also acted as the documentary's executive producer.

"We should open up that access up a bit more without sharing trade secrets because as you well know there is a heavy paranoia about the competition and seeing what we are up to."

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Filled with dramatic moments, one of which depicts an astonished McLaren crew gazing at Honda's engineers as they attempt - and fail - to fire up the MCL32's engine for the very first time, the film does not hold back on representing the McLaren-Honda relationship as a decomposing enterprise, exposing the weaknesses and inadequacies of both partners.

However, unwrapping the crude realities for the viewer, be it to McLaren's detriment, was an essential ingredient of the film's success, says Brown.

"We took a decision: if you are going to do a show like that, then you have to be authentic to what the purpose of the show is," he said.

"So we let them in places and meetings, like we have every Tuesday race debriefs.

"We took the view that it would be counterproductive if it was the inside of McLaren, edited by McLaren. We wanted to show everyone this is what really happens in an F1 team."

"It wasn't what we had planned for last year, but it was very authentic, very real and that is what the sport needs to do more of for the fans," he added.

"Let's be who we are, and not try to necessarily be politically correct in everything we do. Let's let our guard down a little bit and let the fans on the inside.

"We hoped it would have been a different story. It really intended to be about the rise of Stoffel, but with all that was going on, it became the rise of Stoffel with all this other stuff happening.

"We've seen it and there are some scenes – where we go 'oooooh..."

"But we had to be authentic to what we said the show was going to be about. We just hope people appreciate our open and honest and transparent approach."

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