Rumor: Might Zak Brown sell McLaren to his buddy Andretti?

A new rumor has surfaced via Business F1 Magazine that the McLaren Racing team, run by Michael Andretti’s buddy Zak Brown, may be for sale.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

With Zak Brown’s commercial business savvy and Andretti-Cadillac’s desire to enter F1, the combination would be formidable.

They already are co-team owners in Supercars and they teamed together to run Fernando Alonso in the Indy 500 – WAU owners L to R: Zak Brown (United), Michael Andretti (Andretti Autosport) and Ryan Walkinshaw. Photo by Daniel Kalisz Photographer for Walkinshaw Andretti United

Andretti and his backers will spend well over $1 billion to start a team from scratch, and it would take them 10 years to reach the level of competitiveness that McLaren is currently at.

McLaren has yet to decide on a power unit for 2026, Andretti -Cadillac have one

According to Business F1, the British team might be listed for $1 billion and could be the first F1 team to go for sale.

The British automaker has been in a financial soup for the last couple of years, and its effect has directly fallen on its Formula 1 team. And now, as things stands, they are on their way to putting their team on sale after spending 57 years in the sport with the availability of big buyers.

Following a faulty business model and imperfect board room decision on McLaren track 25, the British giants suffered heavy financial losses during the latter half of the 2010s. The loss multiplied further with the arrival of COVID-19. However, according to PlanetF1, the Papayas registered a net profit of $127 million after Zak Brown took charge as CEO.

It will not be surprising if McLaren Group, which owns 70% of McLaren Racing decides to sell off its shares to raise cash when the need is extreme. As per Business F1, the 70% stake could be worth around $1 billion now and could be sufficient to run the team for a decent amount of time.

However, the other 30% is owned by MSP Capital and they reserve the rights of pre-emption, which could be restrictive. Notably, the McLaren Group has recently been making a profit and recorded $1.25 billion in sales. Now, this means that their 70% could also be worth $900 million.