F1 News: Zak Brown Offers Advice To Andretti - 'Offer Needs To Be Bigger'

Zak Brown sides with FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem and states the best option for Andretti is to purchase an existing team.

Chief Executive Officer of the McLaren Zak Brown stands in Arrow McLaren SP driver Felix Rosenqvist (6) pit box Friday, May 26, 2023, during Carb Day ahead of the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. / Grace Hollars/IndyStar / USA TODAY

McLaren CEO Zak Brown has advised Andretti Global to up their offer if they wish to enter Formula 1 by purchasing an existing team. His suggestion comes close on the heels of the comments from FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem at the Monaco Grand Prix that the American team should try and buy an existing team rather than enter as an 11th.

Despite the FIA approving Andretti's bid to join Formula 1 in October 2023, the American team was rejected by Formula One Management earlier this year. In a change of direction from the FIA president, he has now advised Andretti to try and acquire an existing team as a way of entering the sport.

Zak Brown has now also commented on he believes is the best option for Andretti. He explained during an interview with ESPN:

"That would certainly be the easiest thing to do. There doesn't seem to be anyone who wants to sell at the moment, that being said, but that just means the offer needs to be bigger. There's always a number, but no-one has a 'for sale' sign, from what I can see, on their front door."

Brown went on to claim that this is a common view within the paddock. There have been concerns raised by many of the team chiefs from the beginning of the process with worries about diluting the prize money and exploiting the value which they have built over the years. Brown continued:

"There's a lot of similar views because it's a topic that garners a lot of similar views. I don't think it's a function of teaming up. I can tell you, I haven't spoken to Christian Horner in a while, as you can imagine!

"Throw a topic out there for the NFL or the MLB or the NBA and if it's a view that all the people in the sport have a similar view on, that's not because they've collaborated. I think it's just a common view.

"You could throw out 'Should we have 26 races?' and I think you'd hear 10 teams saying, 'We don't think we should have 26 races.' That wouldn't be us collaborating; it would just be all the teams' views. So I don't think that the majority of the teams having some commonality in their views is anything other than that being their view and everyone is similar landing in a similar place."