Zak Brown received compensation worth almost €100 million from McLaren Racing in 2025, according to the company’s official accounts analysed by Fanpage.it. The figure emerged under the entry for the company’s highest-paid director, identified as the McLaren CEO, during a season in which the team won both Formula 1 World Championships.
Yet the accounts reveal another side to McLaren’s extraordinary sporting success. Despite record revenue and its title double, McLaren Racing ended the financial year with a loss of more than €20 million.
How much Zak Brown received from McLaren in 2025
The accounts filed with the UK’s Companies House list £81.897 million for the company’s highest-paid director, equivalent to approximately €96.5 million at the current exchange rate.
In 2024, the equivalent figure had been around €43.8 million, already making Brown the highest-paid executive in Formula 1. His total compensation therefore more than doubled within 12 months.
However, describing the entire amount simply as salary does not explain how such a large figure was reached. Around €9.7 million represented remuneration, while a further €86.8 million came from a long-term incentive plan.
That second component was responsible for the vast majority of the total. The incentive scheme was linked to the value of the company and reached full maturity during 2025.
McLaren Racing booked €160.5m in share-based payments
The extraordinary cost was not limited to Zak Brown. McLaren Racing recorded approximately €160.5 million in share-value-based payments during the financial year.
That figure was even higher than the roughly €153.9 million spent on ordinary salaries for the company’s 1,246 employees. Total personnel costs consequently rose to approximately €336.5 million.
The scale of those payments helps explain why the financial result moved in the opposite direction to the sporting performance, even as McLaren enjoyed one of the most successful seasons in its history.
McLaren won both F1 championships but lost more than €20m
The 2025 season delivered remarkable results on track. McLaren secured its second consecutive Constructors’ Championship, while Lando Norris won the Drivers’ Championship, ending the team’s wait for a drivers’ crown that had stretched back to 2008.
McLaren Racing’s revenue also climbed to approximately €693 million, an increase of almost €118 million compared with the previous year.
Despite that growth, the bottom line moved sharply in the other direction. In 2024, McLaren Racing had recorded a profit of approximately €63.4 million. Twelve months later, the company reported a loss of around €20.5 million.
The change was even more pronounced at operating level. McLaren went from an operating profit of approximately €57 million to an operating loss of more than €50 million.
Long-term incentive schemes drove McLaren costs higher
Brown’s enormous compensation should therefore be viewed as part of a much broader increase in costs rather than as the sole reason for the loss.
The accounts identify incentive schemes linked to the company’s value, which also involved other employees, as one of the principal reasons for the rise in administrative expenses.
It creates an unusual financial picture of McLaren Racing’s 2025 season: two Formula 1 World Championships, record revenue and almost €100 million in total compensation for its CEO, but ultimately a negative result at the bottom of the accounts.
The figures also arrive as McLaren continues competing at the front in 2026, with the team now focused on extracting more performance from the MCL40 after recent difficult weekends. Its current sporting challenge is reflected in the team’s push to return to winning form in Singapore, but the 2025 accounts show just how substantial the financial consequences of its previous championship-winning year became.
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