McLaren IndyCar return a few years off - Brown

McLaren executive director Zak Brown expects it to be a number of years before his team will be ready to make a full-time return to the IndyCar series.

Brown helped put together a deal for Fernando Alonso to race in this year's Indy 500 in a McLaren-Andretti entry, with the Spaniard qualifying in fifth place and leading a number of laps before retiring in the late stages with an engine failure. Although he was disappointed with the final result, Brown sees the 500 as a race McLaren will return to and is also interested in a full-time IndyCar entry – but believes the latter will need more planning time.

"We had a great experience, it's left a very good taste in our mouth," said Brown (pictured watching Alonso's progress at Indy). "I'd like to see McLaren back at the Indy 500 on a regular basis. We haven't made a decision yet; we will in the next couple of months. We're very head down and the team has been – I've been – a little distracted but now we're thinking the Indy is behind us. I think it's more likely than not that we will be back at the 500.

"As for doing a full season of IndyCar, with everything we've got going on and to get it right, we'd need to make a decision now – and we're not talking about it now, let alone making those decisions.

"I think further down the road it's a great series. I think McLaren racing in North America is a nice complement to Formula 1 because Formula 1 has limited reach there. But not yet – I think it's a few years away."

While Brown wants to see McLaren racing in IndyCar again, he ruled out any future move to bring an IndyCar driver to F1, having been asked if someone like Scott Dixon could be considered as a replacement for Alonso in the coming years.

"I don't think so. Scott Dixon I think is as good of a racecar driver as anyone out there but I think you've got to know the circuits, you've got to know the cars, you've got to know the teams. So someone like Scott, who is as fast as ever but towards the tail end of his career, I don't think there's a driver over there that wouldn't have too big of a learning curve to be as competitive as we would need them to be as quickly as they need to be.

"But I think those drivers are outstanding. I think it's more a case of where they've come from and the type of racing they've done and the cars they've been in, as opposed to that being a view on their talent and whether they're good enough, because I think they are. Or at least the front of the field are."