McLaren won't select a driver for 'commercial reasons'

Zak Brown says a F1 prospect's nationality is important for McLaren, but the team will never select a driver for "commercial reasons" alone.

McLaren has singled out several drivers as potential candidates for a seat with the Woking-based outfit in the future.

At the end of last year, Arrow McLaren SP IndyCar driver Pato O'Ward enjoyed an F1 test with McLaren in Abu Dhabi at the end of last year.

Last week, it was O'Ward's IndyCar rival Colton Herta's turn to sample a F1 car with two days of testing at Portimao with the papaya squad's 2021 machine.

Both drivers might fill a Friday FP1 slot later this season with McLaren as part of F1 teams' mandatory requirement to run a young driver in free practice.

And last week, McLaren unexpectedly added 2021 NTT IndyCar champion Alex Palou to its list of F1 trainees as part of the Spaniard's 2023 contract with Arrow McLaren SP.

Brown has made clear that none of the tests - past, present or future – were or are mere incentive or 'public relations' runs, but serious outings organized for the purpose of gauging young talent.

"We’re very serious about anyone we put in our Formula 1 car. The fact that he’s American is great, but we lead with performance," the McLaren boss told the F1 Nation podcast, referring to Herta's two-day run in Portugal last week.

"Nationality is on the list, but we would never select a driver for commercial reasons first."

Brown laid out the team's priorities when it engages in a selection process with a promising young driver.

"The first gate to get through is: do we think this driver is world champion, Grand Prix-winning capable? And if the answer to that is yes, then we continue to proceed," explained the American

"If they happen to be British, because we’re a British team, or American, because that’s an important market, or from Asia, because that’s an important market, it’s kind of a commercial bonus.

• Read also: McLaren 'quite impressed' with Herta's professional approach

"But first and foremost, we’re here to win races – that’s what our sponsor partners want. And yes, he’s [Herta] been very impressive in IndyCar.

"He was Lando [Norris’s] team mate not long ago in Europe, so he has European racing background so [our thinking is] let’s give him a go and see what he’s made of."

McLaren was impressed with how Herta dealt with his test at Portimao and the challenges he faced. But there are no guarantees that the outing will be followed up by an FP1 session in the back-half of this season, although it's probable.

"We plan to do that at the race weekends at some point after the summer break, so we still have time in order to decide when we actually do that, and who we put in the car," commented McLaren F1 team principal Andreas Seidl.

"And, yeah, that's a process that we are in, in the next weeks."

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