McLaren taking wait and see approach to future WEC entry

McLaren will wait for the FIA World Endurance Championship’s future regulations to be finalised before taking a final decision on a possible entry to the series – but only once Formula 1’s planned direction has also been outlined.

McLaren has been part of discussions surrounding the WEC’s planned hypercar-led regulations for the top class from the 2020-21 season for some time, with the marque interested in returning to the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Talks between the parties leading the WEC have been dragging on with uncertainty over what shape the future regulations will take, leading to frustration from some manufacturers such as Toyota, who called the delays “ridiculous”.

Asked by Crash.net for an update on McLaren’s WEC talks, CEO Zak Brown confirmed he was still part of the talks and is happy to wait and see what direction the rules took, avoiding frustration over the delays.

“We still have a seat at the table. We’ve been interested to see where they go from day one,” Brown said.

“I think it would be very good for our automotive business. Formula 1 remains priority one. We need to see where the rules land.

“But we’ve won Le Mans, so we’ve got good history there, and just see how things shake out. I think they’re coming towards the end of finalising the regulations.

“It’s not frustrating for us because we’re not in it, and we’re not in any rush, so it’s not been frustrating for us because our priority is [F1].

“When they land on it, we’ll assess if it is something we want to do, and if we do want to do it, when would we want to do it. I can appreciate Toyota being frustrated because they’re in it, their team is in it, what do they do next, but we’re in a good position.”

McLaren has been expanding its racing portfolio since Brown took over as CEO in 2017, dipping its toe into IndyCar with two entries to the Indianapolis 500, but will wait for F1’s future rules to be defined before committing to other programmes.

“I think we need to definitely understand where F1 is going,” Brown said.

“Then you get into shared resources, resource allocation, which is potentially part of the strategy if we were to get into WEC, depending on where Formula 1 lands on budget, headcount, things of that nature.

“So I do think seeing the future of Formula 1 is first and foremost, and once that sets, that will help make things around it a little bit clearer for us.”