McLaren Executive Director Zak Brown has ruled out the team having a title sponsor in Formula 1 next season, though expects to have a collection of major sponsors.
McLaren has had several long-term title sponsors throughout its history in the sport, including Marlboro, West and Vodafone.
However, it has not featured a title sponsor since Vodafone’s exit at the end of 2013, and Brown does not expect the situation to change in the future.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to have a title sponsor per se,” Brown said.
“What I think we’ll have are major partners and if you look at Formula 1 no-one really refers to the name of the team as their title partner so I don’t think there’s a lot of value.
“We’re McLaren we’re not ‘ABC McLaren’, so I think there’s major branding but we’re not trying to sell the title, we want to remain the name of the team – McLaren.
“In NASCAR the drivers are trained to get out of the car and say ‘I’d like to thank, you know, my Chandon Ford today’, that doesn’t happen in F1, I think we want to protect our brand.”
Brown also says he expects commercial partners to be interested in the space created by the introduction of the halo, though is wary of the other parts blocked by the device.
“The halo will create extra exposure on the car but will also probably restrict some of the visibility around the driver,” Brown explained.
“The visor is a very valuable spot, that now maybe becomes the halo.
“It all depends on how they’re going to address the camera angles and the in-car cameras, whether we can make up some of that visual impairment that I think is going to happen.”
