F1 budget cap ‘positive’ for possible McLaren WEC entry

The planned budget cap for Formula 1 is positive news for a potential entry by McLaren to the FIA World Endurance Championship’s new hypercar-led premier class in 2021.

McLaren has been involved in discussions about the future of the WEC’s top category for some time, with the hypercar regulations being confirmed last week at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Toyota and Aston Martin have been quick to confirm their entry to the new category, which will take over from LMP1 for the 2020-21 season, while McLaren has confirmed it will make a decision on being ready for the ’21-22 campaign by the end of this summer.

A possible WEC entry would coincide with the introduction of a cost cap to F1 for the 2021 season, which Brown said would be taken into account before McLaren takes a decision.

“I think it’s all part of the analysis of how would we do it, when would we do it,” Brown said at Le Mans last weekend.

“The budget cap comes in for 2021. The soonest we would be ready here is ‘21, so as you look to restructure your whole organisation, that’s opportune timing.

“I think it is a positive that these dynamics are going on in F1 at the same time that we’re considering WEC.”

As well as entering the WEC, McLaren remains interested in establishing an IndyCar programme in the United States in the future, having attempted to qualify for this year’s Indianapolis 500 with Fernando Alonso.

Asked how feasible it was to have Le Mans, IndyCar and F1 together, Brown said: “Look, it’s never easy to put a whole team of people together. There’s a lot of operational considerations and personnel and so on that we have to take into account.

“On the Formula 1 world, in 2021, there’s a whole new world in terms of the regulations over there, so there might be an opportunity to deploy people inside McLaren in a different way.

“But you’re right, it is a challenge. It is always a challenge to put a good race team together.

“But if we do it, we’ll try to do it in the right way with full commitment for a long period of time.”