Zak Brown is an American businessman and former professional racing driver, as well as Team Principal the chief executive officer of the McLaren Racing team competing in the 2023 Formula One World Championship.
Date of Birth: | November 7, 1971 |
Birthplace: | Los Angeles, California U.S. |
2023 F1 Team: | McLaren Racing |
Zakary Challen Brown was born on November 7, 1971, in the Los Angeles, California, United States. Zak Brown found his love for motorsport firstly as a racing driver as he raced professionally for ten years before transitioning to the business and managerial side of things.
Beginning his career in go-karts, Brown won 22 races during the course of five seasons in the years 1986 to 1990. Moving up in his career, Brown competed in multiple prestigious competitions around the world during his career as a racing driver.
The list includes the Formula Ford 1600, the Formula Opel-Lotus Benelux Series, the Toyota Atlantic Series, the British Formula Three Championship, Indy Lights, and the German Formula Three Championship.
In 1997, Zak Brown competed in 24 Hours of Daytona and finished as a runner-up in the GT2 category competing for Roock Racing. He also added a runner-up place in 12 Hours of Sebring.
In 1995, Zack Brown founded Just Marketing International (JMI) and made it the largest motorsport marketing agency in the world before it was acquired by CSM. Multiple publications have recognized Brown as one of the most talented entrepreneurs.
Brown has continued competing as a racing driver after 2005 in series like Britcar 24 Hours (won in his class) and
Ferrari Challenge Series (won multiple races). In 2009, Brown co-founded United Autosports.
United Autosports competes and has become very successful in numerous series like 24 Hours of LeMans, where the team won in its category (LMP2) in 2020. Brown still regularly competes driving for his team in historical events like the Grand Prix de Monaco Historique.
On November 21, 2016, Brown became an executive director of McLaren Technology Group, and in 2018, he became the Chief Executive Officer of the
McLaren Racing team. Brown works closely with the
Formula One team, including the team principal
Andrea Stella, and his drivers,
Lando Norris and
Oscar Piastri.