McLaren looking at Formula E team entry for 2023

McLaren CEO Zak Brown says the team is considering entering Formula E when its new generation of car is introduced in 2023.

The team is currently unable to compete in the championship as McLaren Applied has been the series’ battery supplier since 2018.

2023 will see Formula E introduce its Gen 3 car and the batteries for it will be supplied by Williams Advanced Engineering.

“We’ve been precluded from competing in Formula E because we were the battery supplier,” Brown said. “So within that FIA tender, we’re not allowed to compete as a team.

“With the new generation car coming in 2023 and us no longer being the exclusive battery supplier, that’s a racing series that we find very interesting. So that’s something that we are starting to look at more closely."

In the last month, Audi and BMW have announced they would be withdrawing from Formula E at the end of the 2020/21 season.

When asked whether it was a concern major manufacturers were leaving the series, he said: “Of course you have to ask yourself why. But it’s deep with manufacturers support. So I’m ultimately not concerned. But you do get to the bottom of why have they left.

“Any time teams or manufacturers leave a series, you have to ask why. I don’t know. Obviously, Audi’s announced that they’re going and getting in Dakar and LMDh, so that’s great. With them being in the same family as Porsche and Porsche being in there maybe their strategy is Porsche should do that, Audi should be somewhere else.

“It started off being very inexpensive and then it skyrocketed, which is what happens. Now it looks like they’re going to cap that quickly before it further grows.”

McLaren returned to IndyCar full-time in 2020 as it linked up with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports to form Arrow McLaren SP.

Brown says McLaren is keeping its option as it considers the World Endurance Championship or Formula E as potential championships to compete in.

"Those two series have our attention, and we want to get through this season, we want to make sure that anything we do is not a distraction to our Formula 1 efforts," Brown added.

"We layered In IndyCar, and I think we've had a very successful year after a bumpy start in 2019. Those two are something that we're looking at. [It is] the same criteria that we have on IndyCar: do we think we can be competitive? Do we think it's commercially and fiscally sustainable? Do we think it fits our brand?

"I think both those series tick all those boxes, so it's all about layering them in from a timing perspective if we're going to do either."