Brown: "McLaren not ready to run an Indycar team"

McLaren team executive Zak Brown claims that the team is years away from entering Indycar. After Fernando Alonso contested in the gruelling Indy 500 race earlier this season, rumours emerged that the Woking team were lining up a full-time entry in the coming seasons.

However, according to Brown, such a deal is a long way away. With the team expecting to be more competitive in F1 with Renault power next year, it is believed a follow-up project in 2018 is unlikely, with Brown playing down the suggestions.

"We need to make sure when we get involved in activities beyond our formula one programme that it doesn't detract from our Formula 1 efforts," he said in a teleconference. "Second, we have to be competitive, and third, it has to be commercially viable. 

"With all that we have going on right now, spending much time thinking about Indycar would detract from our formula one efforts, so I'd say we're years away from fielding an Indycar team," Brown added.