Let’s be real: when your Formula 1 team is dragging at the back of the grid and nothing seems to work, you’ve got to shake things up. In 2017, that’s exactly what McLaren’s boss Zak Brown did — but not in the way anyone expected. Back then, McLaren was stuck in the mud. Once a dominant force in Formula 1, they had become a midfield struggler, with a car that even a two-time world champion like Fernando Alonso couldn’t drag to the front.
What started as a dinner table joke somehow turned into one of the wildest and most talked-about moves in modern motorsport. It involved skipping the glitzy Monaco Grand Prix and heading to the brickyard instead — the Indy 500. And the man at the centre of it all was none other than Alonso.
Zak Brown’s Crazy Idea Over Dinner
Brown isn’t your typical motorsport CEO. He’s loud, bold, and not afraid to throw crazy ideas around. So, during a dinner in China back in 2017, he casually floated an idea to Alonso and his manager: “Why don’t we pull Fernando out of Monaco and put him in Indy 500?”
Now, Brown says he meant it as a joke. A harmless, out-of-nowhere comment. He even admitted, “And everyone thought I was nuts. I even kind of thought I was a bit nuts.” But Alonso wasn’t laughing it off.
“They totally supported it. It was huge news, and it was funny the way it went down with Fernando. I kind of threw it out there as a joke…. Then he came up the next morning and went, ‘Let’s do it.’” Brown shared on The Dale Jr. Download. “I was like, ‘Oh man, I’ve gotta figure out how to put this together.’”
With McLaren struggling badly in F1 and not expecting much at Monaco anyway, the move kind of made sense, even though it was crazy and outrageous. They weren’t likely to score points there, so why not turn heads somewhere else? Soon enough, Brown was on the phone, putting the pieces together with Andretti Autosport and Honda to get Alonso in a car for the 2017 Indy 500.
The Bold Move by Zak Brown That Changed McLaren Forever
Turns out, Alonso wasn’t just showing up — he was seriously competitive. He led laps at the Indy 500 and looked like a threat until an engine issue ended his day late in the race. But by then, the message was clear: McLaren wasn’t playing it safe anymore.
That one crazy move flipped a switch inside McLaren. Today, they’ve got a full-time IndyCar operation, run in Formula E, and even race off-road in Extreme E. Brown’s dinner “joke” wasn’t just funny — it helped launch a whole new era.
And now, with NASCAR star Kyle Larson set to drive for McLaren at this year’s Indy 500, you can trace it all back to that moment in 2017. A little joke, a wild idea, and two racing legends crazy enough to go for it.