The French Grand Prix marked another low point for McLaren in Formula 1 and while some in the organisation argue that it should expand its motorsport activities, others say that if the Woking team is to return to its former glory, it must focus completely on Grand Prix racing and not confuse matters with other motorsport projects such as IndyCar or the World Endurance Championship. There have been rumours that Zak Brown wants to run McLaren teams in both series to boost the brand and sales of its road cars. However, there is a strong argument that trying to do too much is the wrong way to go.
There has been a lot of media coverage about McLaren's IndyCar plans, including the suggestion that Scott Dixon might be hired to be part of the team, presumably alongside Fernando Alonso. Dixon has confirmed discussions but other sources say that the McLaren plan to run a team in IndyCar is not going to happen, because the team owners have decided that they must concentrate on returning to contention in F1. This makes sense.
Michael Andretti is warning that if there is going to be a McLaren IndyCar team run by his organisation, a decision is needed almost immediately, in order to have things properly-structured. There is also a problem because everyone believes that the IndyCar idea has been developed because of Fernando Alonso. This is not necessarily the case as the Spaniard may be more of a hindrance in the process for two reasons: he is a Toyota factory driver in WEC and Honda would need to accept that if he is to race for Andretti. Honda may appreciate his ability, but it has suffered as a result of his criticisms of its efforts in F1 and may not wish to do business with him. This could mean that Andretti is not a workable option for Alonso/McLaren and they would need to look at options using Chevrolet engines. This would in effectively limit his choice of partners to Penske Racing and Ed Carpenter.
Source: JSBM
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