New McLaren CEO Zak Brown says the team has been "a little bit too Darth Vader" in recent years -- something he hopes he can change with a little pinch of Luke Skywalker.
Brown's arrival at the team came during a period of significant overhaul following the conclusion of the 2016 season, with Ron Dennis forced to relinquish his role as chairman and chief executive of the McLaren Technology Group. The F1 team has made a clear break from the Dennis era, adopting an old-school yellow livery and dropping the 'MP4' naming prefix used since 1981 in favour of 'MCL' -- first used for the 2017 car, the MCL32.
Brown likened his new team to the Star Wars movie franchise but thinks the atmosphere of recent years may have been more in line with its famous villain.
When asked if he envisaged any more changes for McLaren's senior management, Brown replied: "What you see is where we're at. We're very happy with the executive team and the collective group. Ways of working, everyone is different. I like to walk the factory floor and say hi to the guys and gals every morning.
"The MTC [McLaren Technology Centre, its Woking HQ] is kind of like Star Wars, but we've maybe been a little bit too Darth Vader and need to be a little bit more Luke Skywalker."
One thing Dennis failed to do in recent years was secure McLaren another title sponsor after its deal with Vodafone ended in 2013. McLaren has not won a race since the 2012 Brazilian Grand Prix and has not had a podium finish since the opening race of 2014.
Though Brown thinks that has hurt the team's chances of securing a replacement for Vodafone, he says McLaren has much more to offer potential partners than its results on the race track.
"Results always help. The better we do, the easier it will be. However, at my old company we bought Williams at the back end of what was their worst season, as their title partner. So it can be done. I think the way we operate... McLaren also has three legs to the stool that I really don't think any other racing entity has.
"We have a Formula One team, an unbelievable automotive division and unbelievable technology. Where you have some that have automotive and a racing team, they don't have technology, some have technology, racing, but no automotive. So in today's world the partners we're looking for need to be buying into McLaren for who we are, what we stand for, and certainly delivering on track is critically important but that's not the only thing we're selling at McLaren."