McLaren Racing is set to enter Extreme E in 2022, officially marked its way to a newer chapter of motorsport. The team will compete in the five-race global championship which helps accelerating McLaren Racing’s own sustainability and diversity agenda, while reaching new fans and partners as well as growing the team’s brand and franchise.
The decision to enter the series follows a detailed evaluation of the series by McLaren against a set of strategic, economic and operational criteria. These were also underpinned by a clear imperative for accelerating the team’s sustainability mission at its core. Missions involved are decarbonisation, recycling, reuse and elimination of waste and representation issues such as diversity, equality and inclusion.
“To have McLaren on board, which symbolises the highest level of racing and automotive innovation, is a huge endorsement that what we have delivered in just our first two races of Season 1 has already created real impact in motorsport.” said CEO Extreme E Alejandro Agag.
“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Zak and the powerhouse McLaren Racing team to Extreme E, and it’s safe to say, we can’t wait to see how the team performs in its first off-road, electric racing debut. Season 2 just got very exciting!”
Although it’s known that Zak Brown has also been involved with the ongoing team Andretti United XE’s development, he remained keen to bring his F1 branch into the series.
“From the moment Extreme E was announced we have been following the progress of the series closely. Our attention was immediately drawn by the innovative format of this motorsport platform, in particular the ability it gives us to accelerate and boost our own overarching sustainability agenda.
“At the same time, it will enable us to reach a new audience with an innovative race format, connect with a new generation of fans through content served across a variety of channels and provide partners with a purpose-led competition platform to align with and share in a positive, powerful narrative.
“While Formula 1 will always remain at the centre of our world, like INDYCAR and esports, our entry into Extreme E is additive to the McLaren Racing franchise and will complement and help support all our programmes. We will be competing against big names we’re very familiar with from F1 and INDYCAR but, like all series we compete in, the competition objective is clear: we are there to win.”
The team will be operated using both existing personnel from outside the Formula 1 programme, which is limited to four mechanics and one engineer and its two drivers.
