Brown 'comfortable' with McLaren's 2019 commercial outlook

McLaren CEO Zak Brown is expecting the Woking-based outfit to sustain in 2019 the commercial growth it enjoyed this year.

Brown's arrival at McLaren at the end of 2016 and his nomination at the helm thereafter were seen as a significant boost to the outfit's commercial prospects given the American executive's marketing and sponsorship expertise.

Few partners jumped on the McLaren bandwagon last year but income from sponsorship grew nicely in 2018 according to Brown.

"We have made good progress this year," said McLaren's top man as quoted by RaceFans.net.

"We have hit our anticipated revenue numbers. Like our on-track road to recovery [programme], we have the same kind of road to recovery on our corporate partners.

• Fernando Alonso set to become a McLaren shareholder!

"I think we brought in more new partners than any other racing team or the series this past year.

"They were great brands, long-term relationships: Dell Technologies, Petrobras, FX Pro etc… I would anticipate having the same level and amount of new partners joining us in 2019."

Brown reiterated his view that McLaren would not seek to partner with a 'title sponsor', a concept the chief executive believes would dilute the exclusive McLaren brand.

"We are not actively trying to find a title partner, we’re actively trying to find what we call a principal partner," added Brown.

"What that means is a title sponsor as you would know it from a visibility on the car standpoint – of course you would want that level of partner – but unless it is exactly the right partnership we aren’t actively trying to bring any other brand alongside our bran.

"Because I think ultimately we are McLaren, we remain McLaren and not change our name as I think any great brand would not want to change their name. So it’d have to be the right partnership.

"[I’m] comfortable with where we are commercially and of course I think the more on-track success we have, it will be making it easier to accelerate our corporate recruitment programme."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

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