McLaren to decide on Le Mans return by end of year

McLaren will make a decision on a possible return to the 24 Hours of Le Mans and entry to the FIA World Endurance Championship by the end of the year, according to racing CEO Zak Brown.

Since joining the Formula 1 team in late 2016, Brown has led a push to explore interests in other disciplines such as sports car racing and IndyCar, with McLaren entering last year's Indianapolis 500 with Fernando Alonso.

McLaren is currently evaluating a full-time IndyCar programme for 2019, with Brown revealing last week the odds were "looking favourable", but has also been part of discussions regarding the future WEC top class regulations that will come into force from 2020, replacing LMP1.

The hypercar-based rules were outlined in an announcement by series officials on Friday, and Brown said he was pleased with the initial foundations that had been laid as McLaren considers a return to Le Mans. The British team last competed at the Circuit de la Sarthe back in 1998, having claimed a famous victory three years earlier.

"I think the rules were good," Brown said when asked by Crash.net about the proposals. "They still need to be ratified, so they’re still not ‘official official’, and there’s lots of detail to come.

"But I would say sitting here right now, that was the next step, and the next step for us is to go 'right these are the rules, what more definitions do we need?' When we evaluate other racing, we can’t compromise our Formula 1 team. It has to be commercially viable. We have to think we can win and be good for our brand.

"If we can tick all four of those boxes, then I think it’s something we’re going to give real strong consideration to.

"If we’re going to be ready for the start of the 2020 season, we’ll need to make a decision by the end of the year."

Among the proposals for 2020 is a budget decrease of 75 percent from current LMP1 levels, which Brown put as one of the biggest priorities to get finalised before making a final call.

"That’s one of the biggest points. If the budget starts going out of control, then we won’t do it," Brown said.

"We’re assuming the budget is going to be about 25 million per year. I don’t think we’d walk at 26, but you can’t let 25 become 30 and then it becomes 35, and the next thing you know in three years you’re at 50. That would be unacceptable."