{"id":50749,"date":"2025-08-07T16:50:07","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T16:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/50749\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T16:50:07","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T16:50:07","slug":"a-mid-season-letter-from-zak-brown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/50749\/","title":{"rendered":"A mid-season letter from Zak Brown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A sea of papaya<\/p>\n<p>Ahead of this year\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mclaren.com\/racing\/formula-1\/2025\/british-grand-prix\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">British Grand Prix<\/a>, there were two events that I want to highlight, which I\u2019m particularly proud of. The first was the release of F1: The Movie, which is set to become the highest-grossing film of Brad Pitt\u2019s career. When I saw the film for the first time, I was blown away by how it captured the speed, sound, and vibrancy of Formula 1. It did a brilliant job of bringing the sport to life on the big screen. In fact, I think some of the cinematic techniques used in the motion picture could even enhance how we broadcast F1 in future.<\/p>\n<p>I thought it would be a nice idea to invite <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mclaren.com\/racing\/formula-1\/2025\/brad-pitt-drives-mcl60-to-celebrate-f1-movie\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brad to experience a real Formula 1 car<\/a>. So at the end of June, we got him into one of our McLarens at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas. Lando was on hand to offer some advice, and I have to say, Brad did a great job. He was understandably a little nervous &#8211; as anyone would be &#8211; but he took it seriously, asked all the right questions, and really engaged with the team. I think he may be the first non-professional to drive a two-year-old F1 car, and that\u2019s quite an achievement.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>An epic couple of days in London, bringing all things Papaya to over 30,000 fans in Trafalgar Square.<\/p>\n<p>Huge thanks to our amazing partners who supported the event, offering incredible experiences from garage tours to sim racing and pit stop challenges. Amazing also to have so\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/SxgXhqOPlx\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/SxgXhqOPlx<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Zak Brown (@ZBrownCEO) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ZBrownCEO\/status\/1941117175470657825?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">July 4, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The film can play a really important role in helping to grow Formula 1 by taking the sport to a new audience. It also offers a crucial touchpoint by helping fans to get closer to the sport and develop a deeper understanding of its history, personalities and drama.<\/p>\n<p>But it\u2019s not just about the big screen. In the build-up to the British Grand Prix, we hosted our own event in central <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mclaren.com\/racing\/mclaren-racing-live-london\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">London: McLaren Racing Live<\/a>. It went far beyond our expectations. To see a sea of papaya filling Trafalgar Square was incredible. Forty thousand fans showed up to see the team on stage. Lando, Oscar and I loved being there. It was a powerful reminder of just how passionate and engaged the fanbase is and how much it continues to grow.<\/p>\n<p>A special mention here to our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mclaren.com\/racing\/team\/louise-mcewen\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">CMO Louise McEwen<\/a>. It was her vision, and the execution of her entire team, that brought this event to life. It was a huge production. It was brave and ambitious, but that is what McLaren is all about. It\u2019s about winning on and off the track. Events like these &#8211; whether it\u2019s the F1 movie, appearances at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, or the McLaren Racing Live event in London &#8211; aren\u2019t just feel-good moments, they\u2019re strategically important. They create unforgettable memories, deliver value to our partners and help inspire the next generation of fans.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A sea of papaya Ahead of this year\u2019s British Grand Prix, there were two events that I want&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50750,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[1687,372,6537,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-50749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-f1","tag-f1","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50749\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}