Brown on customer cars in F1: 'Donate, don’t sell them'

McLaren boss Zak Brown says that top teams in F1 should supply customer cars for free if they are serious about using the scheme to help alleviate costs for smaller teams.

Formula 1's current crisis sparked by the coronavirus pandemic has left the sport scrambling for solutions to mitigate the significant financial impact of the situation on the sport's smaller outfits.

While a series of measures have been decided to help teams rein in costs, Red Bull's Christian Horner recently suggested that F1 revisit the idea of customers cars, insisting it would represent the most cost-effective and fastest route to competitiveness for the sport's smaller teams.

Brown, who is no fan of the concept which he believes is at odds with Formula 1's core foundation that should see each team build its own car, says that if reducing costs is at the forefront of the initiative, then the cars should be donated rather than sold to customers.

• Horner: Customer cars 'fastest way to competitiveness' for small teams

"I would say if we went that direction - because those customer cars, a year-old car gets kind of thrown away - then I'd be advocating that they should donate those cars if they really want to," Brown told Motorsport.com.

"There's no cost to them. They've got all the stuff they've done, the R&D, they have the spares, then they should give it to their customers and not charge them.

"That wouldn't be costing them money. And then if they really have the intention of saving money from the customer teams, give them the car."

Brown adds that if the customer car issue is to be seriously considered, it should only be considered as a temporary fix.

The American also alluded to Racing Point's controversial 2020 design, which is seen by many as a carbon copy of last year's winning Mercedes' W10.

"You know I'm not a fan of customer cars. Everyone talks about the DNA of Formula 1, and that is, people being their own constructors," Brown said.

"I think people have pushed the boundaries on that recently, where they may have built their own car, but they built someone else's car. I think that's something that needs to be addressed.

"If it's about cost and that's their solution, then I think it's a band aid solution, because when you come out of then allowing customer cars, then you're right back to where you are.

"The new normal is not going to be what the old normal was, so it feels to me like a band aid fix.

"It may solve the problem for a year or two, but then we're right back to where we were."

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