Brown: McLaren's road to recovery is a five-year plan!

Patience will likely be a virtue for McLaren's die-hard fans in light of the five-year recovery plan delivered by CEO Zak Brown to the team's shareholders.

It's been slim pickings for McLaren since 2012 and the Brazilian Grand Prix , when Jenson Button brought the Woking-based outfit its 182nd and last F1 win.

The performance of Grand Prix racing's second most successful team - behind Ferrari - has been particularly depressed since the advent of the hybrid era in F1 in 2014, with a partnership with Honda yielding catastrophic results and its association with Renault hardly improving McLaren's fortunes.

A changing of the old management guard put motorsport marketing guru Zak Brown at the helm of the British team but the American's leadership has been called into question by pundits who wonder when and how McLaren will find its way back to the winner's circle.

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Brown, however, insists he has a plan, rubber-stamped by McLaren shareholders.

"I have presented a five-year plan and within that plan, we think we have a journey to get back to winning races, and then once you’re winning races, you’re competing for the championship," Brown told Racer.

"I think it’s critical that Liberty makes changes to the sport because right now, the way the sport is going, it’s difficult for more than two or three teams to compete for the championship.

"So I think there are things that are out of our control, but hopefully we can influence that need to change for multiple teams to be able to win races and compete for the championship.”

"We have laid out a journey and investment, a road to recovery that sees us getting back to the front of the grid in that timeline."

Regardless of the duration of the plan concocted by Brown, the team will need to show some form of progress in the immediate future, or the McLaren boss could risk losing the faith of those holding the monies, namely Mansour Ojjeh and Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa

“I think from a time standpoint, clearly we need to show progress," he conceded.

"The shareholders are extremely committed. We’re hiring, so they’re investing in the racing team, and I think anyone who invests wants to see a return and progress.

"So there’s not a specific timetable in that X has to be achieved by Y date," he added.

"I think what they want to see as we all want to see is us moving forward, but there’s no specific timeline on that."

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