UK government rejects £150m McLaren loan request

The UK government has rejected a £150million loan request from the McLaren Group - which owns the McLaren Formula 1 team - to help it through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a report by Sky News, McLaren saw its funding plea rejected earlier this week and was informed of the decision by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The McLaren Group is understood to have been seeking a commercial loan from the taxpayer for funds from the government, which is also holding talks with other big companies including Virgin Atlantic, which announced it is to cut more than 3,000 jobs in the UK due to the coronavirus crisis which has placed great strain on the airline industry.

It comes amid reports that the surrey-based automotive firm is looking to secure additional financing totalling £300m after seeing its sales of its supercars take a major hit.

In a statement issued to Crash.net, a McLaren spokesperson said: “Like many other British businesses we have been severely affected by the current pandemic.

“We are, therefore, in continued dialogue with our banks, investors and Government to help navigate short-term business interruption.”

The McLaren F1 team is also facing a major loss in revenue with the 2020 season currently suspended because of the pandemic, with racing set to begin no earlier than July.

The Woking outfit became the first F1 team to furlough some of its staff because of the financial uncertainty, with drivers Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris agreeing to take voluntary pay cuts in a raft of cost-measures put in place by McLaren.

McLaren has been one of the most active teams pushing for significant changes to F1’s financial structure, with McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown warning that the series could lose as many as four teams if the coronavirus crisis is not “handled the right way”.

F1 teams have since agreed to slash the budget cap from $175m down to $145 for the 2021 season as part of a number of short-term and longer-term measures put in place to help ease the financial squeeze and protect teams.