What McLaren’s Zak Brown Believes IndyCar Must Do For Future Success

Zak Brown, McLaren Racing CEO. (Photo by Matthew Ashton – AMA/Getty Images)

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With both drivers leading the Formula One World Championship, and two of his three drivers finishing in the top five of the NTT IndyCar Series Championship, Zak Brown’s vision for success has come into focus.

The McLaren Racing CEO has restored McLaren F1 to glory as drivers Oscar Piastri of Australia and Lando Norris of Great Britain are currently 1-2 in the Formula One World Championship.

Brown’s Arrow McLaren IndyCar team finished the 2025 season with Pato O’Ward of Mexico second in the standings to four-time IndyCar champion Alex Palou. Another Arrow McLaren driver, Christian Lundgaard of Denmark, finished fifth in the standings.

IndyCar in 2025 made substantial gains in television viewership with its new partner at FOX Sports and on-site attendance at most of its races increased over last year.

But Brown believes IndyCar must do more to continue that positive growth.

Brown revealed those thoughts in a letter to the fans that was posted on Arrow McLaren’s website. He said IndyCar and the paddock need to “future proof” the series to continue the momentum by continuing to grow and attract new audiences.

Zak Brown’s Three Areas Of Importance

Brown stressed three areas he believes IndyCar needs to focus on in the next few months.

“We need to shake up our racing calendar to be more impactful,” Brown said. “How can we bring the blockbuster energy of the Indy 500 to the rest of the schedule? What can we learn from other series?

“The new race in Arlington, Texas is going to be awesome. But we still have a gap by not having a race in the Northeast, and we need to shift away from some of the smaller markets and trend toward bigger markets where we can turn the whole race weekend into truly unmissable events.”

IndyCar released its 2026 schedule on September 16 and unlike previous seasons that featured two or three weekends off after the first race of the season, next year’s schedule is packed at the beginning of the season.

IndyCar starts the 2026 season with three-straight race weekends starting with St. Petersburg on March 1, before heading to Phoenix Raceway for an IndyCar/NASCAR doubleheader on March 7.

The following week, it’s off to the IndyCar Grand Prix of Arlington, a new event that includes a partnership with the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League and the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball.

After a weekend off, IndyCar’s fourth race in the first five weeks of the schedule is at Barber Motorsports Park near Birmingham, Alabama.

IndyCar’s Challenging Schedule

The IndyCar schedule is challenging, however, as FOX Sports is the exclusive television partner for The World Cup in 2026. Also, per the FOX Sports agreement, the IndyCar Series must end on Labor Day Weekend to avoid any conflict with the National Football League – FOX’s premier television property.

“I fully get the concern over not going up against the NFL – so perhaps we should look at pulling the calendar forward a bit to avoid a short season with currently too much downtime from September to March,” Brown said.

Zak Brown Believes IndyCar’s New Car Must Be An Attention Grabber

Then, there is the new car – a project that is a major initiative for IndyCar because the current Dallara chassis has been the same since it first hit the track in 2012 with the exception of bodywork iterations through the years.

“We need to get the car right,” Brown said. “While we’ll have to wait beyond next year for the new chassis, we need to make sure fans feel the excitement of the new car when it finally debuts on track. The end result needs to be worth the wait.

“It would be great to get a bit more sound out of the engine to really add to that visceral experience of being at the track and experiencing the thrill of the race. We already have a great partner in Chevrolet, I hope that Honda will remain, and it would be great to add another manufacturer in the series to get the car right.”

Zak Brown’s Approach To New Fans

Brown also emphasized continued focus on reaching new fans through creative approaches.

“We’ve got so much room for growth in the digital space,” Brown said. “We are still far from where we need to be to attract a younger audience and are missing out on the opportunity to attract the new motorsport fandom that Formula 1 has created in North America. For the millions of fans who may never attend a race in person, we need to bring the sport closer by offering more engaging content across our digital platforms. Let’s find ways to expose this new generation of fans to our great racing in IndyCar and tap into that incredible momentum. All of this will help us grow our fan base and tell the incredible stories our sport has to offer.

“We’ve taken some real steps forward, and I am definitely encouraged by the direction the NTT IndyCar Series is heading in, but let’s stay laser focused on what needs to be done.”

Zak Brown’s Back Story

Brown was known as an innovator before he became the leader of McLaren F1. That made him a bit of a disruptor in Formula One with is rivals, over time there was a method to Brown’s innovative ways that has paid off by restoring McLaren as one of the top brands in the performance.

It was Brown that sold McLaren on returning to IndyCar as a full-time participant after a 40-year absence. The 2025 season was its best since that return to full-time action in 2020 through an alliance with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

McLaren took sole ownership of the team on December 31, 2024.

“As we enter the offseason for the NTT IndyCar Series, there’s a huge amount to look back on and be proud of,” Brown said. “We’ve seen some awesome racing and on-track battles this season, and the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team delivered one of its strongest campaigns yet with two race wins, three pole positions and 12 podiums. Pato O’Ward finished in second place in the championship and Christian Lundgaard in fifth – a fantastic result and testament to how far we’ve come as a team in a year where one driver was absolutely dominant.

“Tony Kanaan has made a big impact in his first year as Team Principal. He’s embedded a high-performance culture and a winning mindset across the team, bringing great energy to the role. Tony and President Kevin Thimjon make a strong duo, and their positive influence, alongside the whole leadership team, will continue to push the team forward.

“While the team rightfully takes pride in what we’ve accomplished in 2025, we’re already fully focused on the 2026 season, and we’ve set our sights on going bigger and better next year.”

Zak Brown’s Goals For 2026 Season

At the top of the list of goals for 2026 is a victory in the Indianapolis 500.

“We’ll be vying for that coveted Indy 500 win after coming so close the past few years, and we want to not only race for the series championship but target the top ten for all three cars,” Brown said. “We know consistency has been key to our success this year across two of the three cars, so building up Nolan Siegel this off-season and getting full race weekends from the 6 crew will strengthen results.

“We’ve also taken the keys to our new shop – previously home of Andretti Autosport – and will be moving in at the end of the year. The new, much larger facility, the McLaren Racing Center, will accommodate the growth of the team and give us the right infrastructure and setup to be fit for the future and compete for wins and championships. I know our new home is going to make a big difference to the whole team.”

The Importance Of FOX Sports To IndyCar’s Success

Shifting back to the IndyCar Series, Brown praised the incredible partnership with FOX Sports and how the increased promotion and marketing gave IndyCar its greatest boost in viewership in decades.

“The FOX broadcast deal has been a real step change, and their team has done an incredible job in spotlighting all the great action at and away from track,” Brown said. “Eric Shanks, CEO and Executive Producer of FOX Sports, loves this sport; he is creative, energetic and passionate and leads a talented production team.

“This season, FOX delivered a 27 percent increase in viewers, averaging almost 1.4 million across the series and – most importantly – attracting a younger audience and more women, making it the fastest growing sport. It also brought viewers closer to the action with better graphics and camera angles and by using drones in the broadcast, and their Super Bowl campaign was genuinely game-changing.

“I’m sure we will continue to see FOX raise the bar as we go into next year and beyond.”

Zak Brown continues to see a bright future ahead of IndyCar, but he will continue to speak out and offer his opinion on what he believes is the right path for the series to follow to achieve greatness.