Zak Brown described McLaren’s failed attempt to get Fernando Alonso on the grid for the 2019 Indianapolis 500 as the biggest mistake of his career. The team’s CEO stated that the episode, despite the negative impact, ended up serving as a learning experience.
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That year, Alonso was competing in his second Indy 500. With only 33 spots available on the grid, the Spaniard was eliminated after being outqualified by the Juncos car, driven by Kyle Kaiser, a team with a much smaller budget than McLaren. Later, it was revealed that a series of internal failures, including the team’s reaction to Alonso’s crash during practice, contributed to the result.
Commenting on the episode to the press, Brown acknowledged responsibility for the failure: “Especially at the beginning, [there were] big obstacles. I made many mistakes along the way, and that’s okay,” he said. “I told the team: ‘it’s okay to make mistakes, just don’t make the same mistake twice,’ because you learn from mistakes.”
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“Probably my biggest mistake, most public — there were many — but the most public was not qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 with Fernando Alonso, which at the time was the worst experience of my life. We learned from it. I took responsibility, it was my fault because I didn’t put the right pieces in place, the right people. I didn’t trust my instinct,” the CEO continued.
Brown also said the episode made him stronger as a leader: “I’m kind of glad it happened, because I won’t let that mistake happen again,” he concluded.
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